Mommie of 4 Munchkins

If Heaven wasn't so far away....

2011-09-20T22:17:00.000-07:00

Every time I hear the song "If Heaven Wasn't so Far Away" by Justin Moore I can't help but to think how I would change the words to fit my story, so I thought I would share a few with you and ask that you share some with me ;)

....I'd pack up my kids and go for the day, Introduce Joe to his Nana
....I'd find GG June and give her a big hug
....I'd meet my grandpa's and sit with them listening to their stories all day long.
....I'd sit at a table with Jesus and his disciples and listen to them tell stories of my loved ones past and present.
....I'd find Mammy and Papa Dale and smile when he calls me dimples.
....I'd sit and knit with my Grandma Violet and ask that she crochet her dolls for my girls.

So tell me what you would do if you could make a day trip to Heaven.....

Here's the song if you want to hear it ;)

Making the most of the gym..

2011-09-14T18:06:00.000-07:00

When we arrived here in Cali I knew one of the first things I wanted to do was join the YMCA. I wanted a place to take the kids to the pool, a place for me to work out, and bonus is that it has a daycare that I can take The Fish to for two hours a day while I work out. At first I wasn't using up the full two hours because well, I needed to get back into shape. It just so happens that our gym requires you to carry a gym towel with you at all times. Well the crafty person in me was getting bored with my plain jane hand towels so I decided to get creative and here is what I came up with.

Aren't they cute?? My friend Alicia sent me a set a while back with a knitting swap package and I LOVE them. I use the ones she made in my kitchen, but these will be great for the gym. Just a set of bar mop towels (100% cotton) with some fabric scraps sewn on to add cuteness! And because I just couldn't stop there, I also made a flax seed heat pad for the body aches after the gym!

So now when I am burning 1000 calories a day I will do it in style...or at least my towel will have style!

This week I'm Loving.....

2011-09-07T17:55:00.000-07:00

PINTEREST!!!

If you haven't started pinning you need to check it out. We have had so many yummy foods that we found here, seen so many great organizing tips and loads of other crafty stuff too!

Like last week's fantastic dinner of Brown Sugar Basalmic Glazed Pork Tenderloin

And this weeks backyard chalkboard.

And lets not forget the amazing Pumpkin Latte Syrup.

And tonight we have these Honey Roasted Potatoes on the grill (we do ours in tin foil packs so we don't heat the house up!

Seriously if you haven't check this out you really should, but be warned, it's addictive.

Lippy Lou's Sourpatch

2011-08-31T19:37:00.000-07:00

So I have done a lot of knitting this summer but not a log of blogging about said knits so I thought I would start with my latest favorite! I fell in love with the Sourpatch pattern by Corrina Ferguson when I saw it on the Petite Purls blog. I had been pondering what colors and fibers I would use to make it for some time when along came a forum post about some Dancing Dog Dyeworks mini skeins that someone had placed a special order for. The MOMENT I saw the yarn I was in love and I knew just what I wanted it for, Sourpatch of course. So I contacted Michelle over at DDD and she was up for the job!

I knew with packing the house, packing for the trip and the end of the school year looming, I would not be able to start knitting this up until well after we started our vacation to Alaska, but I also knew I wanted the yarn ready to go so I could work on it while on vacation. Michelle had it dyed up and shipped to me before I left and I got it caked and in my knitting bag ready for the road. And yes I did this well before my clothes were packed. Who needs clothes when you have your iPad full of patterns, yarn and needles right?

So after a near disaster with my first attempt at Gramps, (I made a couple of dumb mistakes and the sleeves were WAY too small on me) I decided to put it aside for awhile and get to work on the Sourpatch. It was just a joy to knit up and watch it come to life. The stripes were so easy, much more so than I had thought by looking at the pattern. For a sweater for a tween this took no time at all, I expected it to take way longer and ended up flying through it! I just love how it turned out and Lippy Lou would have worn it everyday for a week that first week if I would have let her. The proudest moment however, took place this week. Lippy Lou proudly wore her handknit sweater for her school pictures! My heart about jump out of my chest with pride. Gotta love it when your handknits are treasured! Especially by lippy tweens!

Long time no bloggy....

2011-08-30T15:52:00.000-07:00

Yes, yes, I know, I know....long time no bloggy. I am hoping that now that we have FINALLY moved and are starting to settle in at our new house in our new duty station I will have more time to blog about all that we are doing!

The first week of July our family set off on a LONG but FUN adventure. Because the hubs gets some time off between duty stations we took the opportunity to spend time with his family up in Alaska. We drove the 2300+ miles from Washington State up to Alaska in just 3 short, or rather long, days. For sleeping in the car the first night and camping the second night the 4 kids did remarkably well, as did the dog. We left mid morning on a Friday and arrived late, late Sunday night. Everyone was VERY glad to be settled in!

We are lucky enough to have family in Alaska that loves us and allows us to share their space for extended periods of time. Hubs got to get much needed fishing time in with friends, the kids got to spend much needed time with cousins and I got in some much needed knitting time and R&R. I think that each and every one of us left Alaska with our reserves charged and ready to start our new adventure in a new town.

Our trip back from Alaska was just as short, taking only 3 days to get back down to Washington, this time sleeping in the van both nights due to rain. Our gracious friends let us crash their house Sunday night and we headed to Oregon on Monday to visit with more family and pick up our cat, George, from my dad who was babysitting while we traveled. Tuesday it was time to travel again, this time to the Hubs' best friend's house. The big kids and I took off Wednesday morning to head towards San Diego, leaving The Fish behind with Hubs and the pets. We traveled 6 hours on Wednesday and 6 hours on Thursday making it more peaceful and less stressful for me traveling alone. Thursday the kids and I arrived, got the keys to our new rental and ate In 'n' Out Burger for the second day in a row, boy did we miss that! Friday morning the movers arrived with our household goods and we were good to go!

I will share a few pictures of our trip with you and hop back on the bloggy train!

4 kids...all smiling....MIRACLE!

The Hubs and I in Whittier

Uncle Bob and Joe, Just a Swingin'

Hatcher Pass

Momma and baby moose, right on the bike path.

And the winner of the PINK quilt is.....

2011-07-22T16:15:00.001-07:00

and the amazing thing about the winner is she has nearly the same name as my late mother, Sally Johnston. When I first opened the email from Susan G. Komen saying I had a donation and read her name, Sally Johnson, my heart leapt a little. My mom was just 55 when she passed away after a long battle with many medical issues that started when I was 15 with lung cancer, watching her go through this horrible battle is what gave me the passion to join together with my best friend to do these walks. Each and every step I take in training, fundraising and walking I think of my mom and what things would have been like without this horrible disease.

A special thanks to each and everyone of you who participated in this raffle, together we raised $405 for a cure!!! A HUGE thank you to Heather of Olive and Ollie for sacrificing her time, talents and fabric to make this beautiful quilt, without her none of this would have been possible.

Special hugs to each of you who donated and shared your stories of loss and survival! I will be thinking of all of you as we walk our 60 miles this year.

Save the Tatas, Win a Pretty in Pink Quilt

2011-07-05T10:10:00.000-07:00

When I first saw this amazing quilt by Heather Jones of Olive and Ollie I fell in love instantly. I contacted Heather and asked her if she would be willing to create something similar to raffle off to help me raise funds for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer 3 Day. Heather graciously accepted the challenge and has completely outdone herself.

See I told you so!

Isn't the detail just amazing?

And here are some views of the back

If you would like a chance to win Heather's quilt all you have to do is donate $10 to my 3 Day Account and comment below letting me know that you have done so. For each $10 you donate you get 1 raffle ticket for a chance to win a quilt. The raffle will end on 7/21/11 at midnight PST. The winner will be chosen at random and posted on 7/22/11. If I can get one of my children to participate the winner will be chosen via video drawing, if not I will use random.org, so either way it will be completely random!

You all must get over to Heather's Etsy shop and check out all the amazing handmade children's items she has in store! I want one of everything!

It would also be greatly appreciated if you could blog/twitter/facebook about the raffle to help raise funds to save the tatas!!

It's a Bird, It's a plane, it's SUPER boy!

2011-03-25T14:48:00.000-07:00

This morning my 3 year old walked up to me with a placemat the rolls up and ties around his neck as a "cape", so what did I do?? I went and made him a real cape of course. Being as that I lost my job a few weeks ago I have extra time to do these things for my kiddos and I LOVE it! I had some Riley Blake fat quarters laying around that I purchased because I loved and never had time to use. Then for the pattern I just kinda winged it. I even made my own bias tape without any directions, other than what my bestie had described to me a while back. So here is the end result!

My first time at applique, and while it is not perfect I think it turned out ok.

Here it is showing the back side too, so it is reversible!!

And after all that I had to bribe the boy to put it on, he decided he doesn't like the Orange "J" goof ball. I am sure he will want to wear it soon though, he is fickle like that.

Gluten Free Friday - Mixed Berry Crisp

2011-03-18T19:05:00.000-07:00

I decided this week I would do a gluten free dessert because hey, who doesn't like a good treat once in awhile. My mom used to make us Apple Crisp and Blackberry Crisp all the time growing up and I enjoy making it for my kids too.

Mixed Berry Crisp

(Picture coming soon, it's in the oven)

Ingredients

Topping:

2 cups Gluten Free Rolled Oats

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 stick of butter

1 TBS cinnamon

Filling

4-5 cups frozen mixed berries, I used a combo of raspberries, blueberries and marion berries from Costco

2 TBS gluten free all purpose flour

1/4 cup sugar (optional)

Combine the topping ingredients in a bowl cutting in the butter until it is in very small chunks.

Mix berries with flour and sugar and pour into baking dish. I used a deep round dish for mine. Cover with topping and bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until golden brown.

Enjoy!

I now invite you to link up one of your families favorite gluten free recipes. And please remember to use my button on the bottom of your post so that others can link up as well.

Click below to link up!

Gluten Free Friday - Enchilada Stack

2011-03-11T12:36:00.000-08:00

A common food we eat here at our house is Chicken Enchiladas, but when I went gluten free flour tortillas were out of the question. I decided to come up with another way to enjoy one of my favorite foods.

Enchilada Stack

Ingredients

2 cups shredded chicken breast (cooked of course)

1 boxes Pacific Natural Foods Cream of Mushroom Soup (2 pictured only 1 used)

1 jar diced green chilis (not pictured)

1/2 cup sour cream

3 cups crushed Mission Tortilla Chips

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (not pictured)

Combine chicken, mushroom soup, green chilis and sour cream in a mixing bowl. Put one layer of crushed chips in the bottom of a deep pie plate or 9X9 pan, cover with chicken mixture and layer of cheddar cheese. Continue layering in this manner until all of your ingredients are used. I try to do 3 layers.

Bake at 350 for 35 to 45 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly.

Enjoy!

I now invite you to link up one of your families favorite gluten free recipes. And please remember to use my button on the bottom of your post so that others can link up as well.

Click below to link up!

Momma Said Monday - Clean Your Microwave

2011-03-07T17:04:00.000-08:00

This weeks tip:

How to Clean Your Microwave in Under 10 Minutes

I will be the first to admit I am not the best housekeeper and I did not inherit the love of cleaning from my mom, maybe because she loved it so she just did it. But when I moved out of the house at a young 19, she taught me tons of stuff about cleaning and many many shortcuts. One of my favorites is how to clean the microwave without it taking hours of chipping and scrapping.

First fill a bowl with 1 part vinegar and 2 parts water. Place bowl in the microwave for 3 minutes on high. Remove microwave tray and any other not permanent parts and wipe clean. Continue to wipe clean the inside of the microwave with ease. If there is anything giving you trouble, which happens rarely, just put the bowl back in for another three minutes to loosen things up again!

So do you have any cleaning tips? Grab my button and link away!

Gluten Free Friday - Chicken Noodle Soup

2011-03-04T12:59:00.000-08:00

Another one of my all time favorite foods is good ole' chicken noodle soup, so I came up with a gluten free version that I LOVE.

Chicken Noodle Soup

Ingredients

4 chicken breast chopped into small pieces and cooked throughly.

2 boxes Pacific Natural Foods Organic Chicken Broth

4 carrots

4 celery stalks

1 large onion

3 cups broccoli chopped

4 cloves garlic minced

1 box Ancient Harvest Quinoa Organic Gluten Free Pasta Elbows

salt and peper to taste

Chop up all the fresh vegetables and place in stalk pot and saute with olive oil. Once tender add chicken brother and bring to a boil. Add Pasta and boil for an additional 9 minutes. When there is 4 mins left of boiling time add chicken to heat through. We sometimes add frozen peas at the very end to cool it down for eating and they are tasty too!

Enjoy!

I now invite you to link up one of your families favorite gluten free recipes. And please remember to use my button on the bottom of your post so that others can link up as well.

My Momma Said Monday's

2011-02-28T10:27:00.000-08:00

The day after Christmas 2006 my world was rocked to it's core and changed forever. I got the call well before anyone else was awake in my house, my Momma, my best friend was gone from this earth. I think about her ALL. THE. TIME. Not a day goes by when I don't think of her at least once, remembering something we did together, talked about or shared. When I look at my hands as they type or craft, I see her's (I also see her wedding band that is remarkably similar to my own). When I sit at the sewing machine to sew, it is her machine, that still smells like her.

Lately I have been thinking about her a lot, probably not more often then before but something about these thoughts lately have made me want to get them down on paper. I am constantly remembering her advise about cooking, sewing, and just life in general and I want to remember these things forever. So I came up with the idea for My Momma Said Monday's. Each week I will share one of My Momma's tips with you my readers! She was full of amazing, yet simple advise. Not all of it will be earth shattering, some you may already know, but for me the combination of them all has helped me get through life!

I would also love for you all to share your tips from your momma, or grandma or aunts with your readers and link back here so we can all learn together!

This weeks tip:

How to keep celery from going bad!

I am terrible about buying vegetables only to let them go bad before using them, part of this is they get put in the wrong drawer or they are in the garage fridge (out of sight, out of mind). About 8 years ago my mom was up visiting us in Bremerton, WA and told me that all I had to do to keep celery crisp was to simply wrap it in tin foil before placing it in the fridge, that's it, easy peasy. I have done so ever since, of course except when I forget, or when the kids put it away. But seriously this WORKS and works well!

So what tips do you have to share? Please put my button on the bottom of your post if you chose to link up! I can't wait to read all the cool tips.

Gluten Free Friday Kickoff!

2011-02-25T10:15:00.000-08:00

For the past couple of months I have been getting used to the idea that my life is now gluten free. It has been a hard transition and I am still learning a lot about how to be completely gluten free. I became gluten free after reading my friend Carrie's blog, Organic and Thrifty, and more specifically a book she recommended called "Why do I Still have Thyroid Symptoms? When my Lab Tests are Normal" My hair is no longer falling out, my vision is no long blurred throughout the day and my energy level is definitely up. If I do cheat and have some gluten I can definitely tell so I try to stay on the straight and narrow. I am grateful that I do not have severe symptoms from eating gluten.

So for my first Gluten Free Friday recipe I have made over one of my families all time favorites.

Coke Roast

Ingredients

2-3 lb roast
2 boxes of Pacific Natural Foods Organic Cream of Mushroom Soup
2 packets of Road's End Organics Gluten Free Quick Gravy mix
24 oz of Coke (full sugar not diet)
5 Carrots
5 Celery Stalks
1 Large Onion
15-20 Fingerling Potatoes (not pictured)
10-20 Button Mushrooms

Chop up all the vegetables and place in the bottom of your crock pot. Place roast, fat side up, in the crock pot on top of the vegetables. Combine soups, gravy mix and soda in a mixing bowl and pour over your roast. Turn crock pot on low and cook for 6-8 hours. Flipping the roast about 1/2 way through the cooking time helps it to cook evenly.

Once the cooking time is up I usually make some gravy out of the juices and sauce mix. To do this I put 2 tablespoons of butter along with 2 tablespoons of gluten free flour mix in a pan on the stove to create a roux. Once the roux looks right I add as much of the juices as I need to make enough gravy for our family. I also add beef bouillon to this mixture to taste.

Enjoy!

I now invite you to link up one of your families favorite gluten free recipes. And please remember to use my button on the bottom of your post so that others can link up as well.

Well Hello My Friends

2011-02-22T18:14:00.000-08:00

Wow, long time no blog. Lets just say life got busy and the ole blog got neglected. I have had tons of ideas for the blog that have been swirling around in my head and now is the time to just dive in and get started. So in the next few weeks expect to see some new happenings on my blog. I have been knitting up a storm, decluttering before our next military move and taking care of sick kiddos for the past few weeks. I have also been laid off so I now have a lot more time to do crafty stuff and keep my blog up to date.

The traveling monsters are coming to an end here soon but I hope to at least post a few pictures of the adventures of my twins in the next week so you can see where they have been and how much fun they had on their travels. I will also post about our visitors and their adventures with us.

I have recently been told I needed to go gluten free so I have started altering some recipes so that the entire family including myself can enjoy them, I hope to post at least one recipe a week that I have altered to fit my new gluten free lifestyle. I am going to call it Gluten Free Fridays and I hope those of you who are also gluten free will link up your favorite posts on the subject, so get your recipes ready!

Another thing I have been thinking about a lot lately are the tips and tricks my mom taught me before she passed. I hope to share one a week here with all of you so that you can benefit from her wisdom as well. This is so I can keep a record of them for my children as well. So be thinking of the tips and tricks your mom's, grandma's, aunts and friends have taught you.

Hope this blog post finds you all happy and healthy!

Violet Arrives in California - Traveling Monsters

2010-10-21T16:36:00.000-07:00

Violet has arrived in California with her foster family and she seems to be having a GREAT time. She was telling the family about her sister Viola who is currently on her way to Canada and she got a little sad so her foster mommy got her a treat, I think she is in love! We are looking forward to hearing from her soon!

Meet Pemberley - Our First Monster Exchange Student

2010-10-19T07:00:00.000-07:00

Pemberley came to us from Texas and seems to be having a great time seeing all the greenness of Washington. She was so excited about the trees she just couldn't stop climbing them....

She got a little carried away and almost fell all the way out of the tree.

Luckily for her the girls were right there to catch her and give her some love.

I think she was trying to tell me she would like some tea, so I quickly made her a nice warm cup!

Violet and Viola - Traveling Monsters

2010-10-18T21:14:00.001-07:00

When I saw a group of gals over on the Danger Crafts group on Ravelry talking about doing a group of traveling monsters I jumped at the chance to join in. I ended up joining both the domestic and international groups so I made two monsters. My two monsters ended up being twins that I affectionately named after my grandma Violet and her twin sister Viola.

Violet and Viola's first adventure was to see the play Oliver with their human sisters Lippy Lou and Lynner in Seattle. They had a great time and got to ride in a bus and see the space needle all in one day.

On the bus with Lippy Lou

They spied the Space Needle before anyone could show them.

Waiting for tickets at the ticket window.

Lippy Lou and Violet playing around while waiting for the bus to come back to get them.

The sisters sharing a tearful goodbye. Violet headed out to Canada while Viola was on her way to Sunny California, she left just in time too it is awfully cold here in Washington.

And there they go, with their journals so we will get to hear all about their adventures while they are away.

Lippy Lou and Lynner are so excited to meet the new monsters coming our way soon!!

To continue with the knitting theme....

2010-09-13T21:18:00.000-07:00

Wow it's been a month, a whole MONTH since I posted last. I have been super busy mothering my 4 munchkins, knitting, playing, traveling, training, visiting, getting ready for school to start. Just to name a few.

My goal this month is to knit five new projects without buying any yarn and so far I am going to make and maybe even exceed my goal. I am hoping to keep this trend up until the end of the year to use up some of my stash. My current goal is to stock up on handmade baby gifts to have on hand for when friends have babies. It seems that every time I turn around someone I know is either really close to giving birth or just finding out they are expecting so I want to get some stuff made up so I am not in a last minute panic to make a gift.

Last month I was given the opportunity to test knit the Girlie Girl dress by Michelle Guilmet-Buck. It was love at first sight and upon completion was I was still smitten. Here is a picture of of my first complete dress, it has made it's way to California to be warn by Emaline who made her way into this world on 8/9/10. What a great birthday!

I loved the construction and ease of this dress so much I decided I needed to make one more. I changed the colors up a little bit this time using my favorite color combination of pink and brown and because I started it in September I used my stash yarn. The pink is from the first dress and the brown was some stash I laying around. This dress will be going in a box to be given as a gift at a late date.

You can find these projects on Ravelry here and here.

Knitting Knitting and More Knitting!

2010-08-12T14:45:00.000-07:00

Over the past few weeks I have been knitting A LOT, I love to knit and I love when projects come flying off the needles. Here are some pictures I have taken of the last few projects.

Shrug Bug Set

The yarn used in this set is Spud and Chloe Outer in Rocket. I adore all of Spud and Chloe's yarns and this time was no different. The sweater pattern is by Gina Bonomo and is called....you guessed it... Shrug Bug. This was a quick and easy knit that I will be doing over and over and over again. The hat I just made up the pattern for myself, if you have questions about how I did it let me know! The button was purchased on Etsy @WoodenArtist I really love the buttons in their shop and will use them again!

Bitty Bump Set

This set has the Bitty Bump sweater also by Gina Bonomo which was equally as easy to knit and super fun. It was made with Spud and Chloe Outer as well but this time in the Sunkissed colorway. The hat is also a pattern I just made up on the fly.

When I was out shopping today I found some super cute jeans by Osh Kosh that matched both sets PERFECTLY so I just couldn't pass them up!!

Stay tuned as I will have some other knit items showing up really soon!

Raspberry, Strawberry and Straspberry Freezer Jam OH MY

2010-07-25T08:00:00.000-07:00

Freezer jam is a huge part of my past, as I talked about yesterday. Today I will share with you how I make my jam so that you can enjoy it with your family too!

First my FAVORITE package for making freezer jam is made by Ball. Below is a picture so you know exactly what you are looking for. It is found by all the canning stuff in your local grocery store. I used to only find it in my Albertson's but recently have seen it in Walmart and Safeway as well. These little packages require less than 1/2 the sugar of the cooking method ones which is one of the main reason I prefer it, more fresh fruit taste!

Ball No Cook Freezer Jam

4 Cups Fresh Fruit

1.5 Cups Sugar

1 pkg Ball No Cook Fruit Pectin

Wash and prepare fresh fruit. I washed up my fresh raspberries and strawberries and then mashed them up in separate containers. I strained the seeds from 1/2 of the raspberries as I don't like extra seedy jam. Once this was complete I made several different batches of jam. two plain raspberry, one plain strawberry and four straspberry (1/2 strawberry, 1/2 raspberry).

Combine sugar and pectin in a dry bowl and mix well. Slowly add the mixture to four cups of fresh prepared fruit mixing well. Continue to mix for 3 minutes. Pour jam into Ball canning jars and put on sealing lids. Let rest on counter for at least 30 minutes before putting in the freezer......that is if it makes it to the freezer before it is devoured! We ended up with 19.75 jars total last night, 5 raspberry, 4 strawberry, 10 strasberry and .75 of a mix off all the extra from each batch.

Straspberry Jam all mixed up!

Jam can be stored in the freezer for up to a year but ours has never ever lasted that long. We share with friends and family and often times end up making tons more throughout the year at the request of others. One of The Hubs' friend's even offered to pick me up in Seattle for my 3 Day walk in San Francisco when I mentioned that I would bring him some Strawberry Jam if he could pick me up at the airport in San Fran for the walk. I guess he misses being able to come raid our freezer when we lived in Monterey! A couple of these jars are on reserve for Brian when I see him at he airport in San Francisco in October.

Bringing My Past Into Their Future....

2010-07-24T08:15:00.000-07:00

Growing up one of my favorite foods of all time was my Aunt Sandy's freezer jam. I can remember having it numerous times in the summer and early fall and being so sad when the last of the jam for the season was gone. I also thought that Aunt Sandy had magical powers because she could create such a yummy treat. My mom also made jam just as tasty but not nearly as often, which lead me to believe it was some huge feat to make such a yummy treat. It wasn't until I was about 21 that I learned how incredibly easy making jam can be. When Aunt Sandy showed me her recipe, she created a monster. I have been making jam ever since and when I make jam I make TONS!

I can also remember visiting Aunt Sandy and family in the summers and going to U-Pick berries at the Twedt's farm. I have such fond memories of these times with my Aunt, Uncle and cousins and loved every minute of my summer visits. Little did I know I would grow up to live in their farm hands house with my two children for over a year. The hubs and I moved in to the farm hands house just before Lynner was born and lived there until we began our journey as a traveling military family. It was just a fluke that Aunt Sandy's co-worker was moving out of the house at the same time I needed a place to live and the rent was amazingly low so we were doubly blessed. Mrs. Twedt always got on my case when I came to their roadside stand and *gasp* paid for my fruits and veggies. I had to pay when she wasn't looking as they were on the honor system and if she saw me putting cash in the coffee can she would tell me I wasn't allowed because I already paid rent. We did eat a few berries without paying as we walked up the long dirt road on hot summer days, so it was all good!

Because I have such great memories of going to the farm to pick berries in the summer I decided it was about time I took my own children out to build memories of their own. My munchkins have picked berries in Aunt Sandy's yard a few times but haven't gone out to the farm to pick as a family yet. So yesterday we loaded up the car and headed to Biringer Farm in Arlington, WA. We were on a mission to get raspberries and strawberries, unfortunately we were a little too late for strawberries, but ended up getting TONS of raspberries, and boy are they delish! I can only hope that my children carry this tradition on with their kids. Next week I hope to get out and pick some blue berries, I smell some scones in our near future!

The kids picking...

*The Fish*

*Lippy Lou*

*Ky Guy*

*Lynner*

(he's such a boy picking rocks instead of berries!)

Our Haul, or 1/2 of it at least ;)

Tomorrow I will be posting about the wonderful jam we made last night after a trip to the ER with The Fish who as pneumonia :(. He was acting totally fine up until about 2 pm yesterday when I noticed his breathing was a little labored so after a few phone calls I ended up taking him in to get him checked out. He is home with us and doing great, breathing treatments work wonders!

Our Little Cabin in the Woods....

2010-07-19T20:13:00.000-07:00

for 2 nights at least. This past weekend we decided that since I totally screwed up the family camping trip by imagining that it was this week instead of last we decided that we would still take the kids camping in the woods and found an opening at Jim Creek Campgrounds in Arlington, WA. It was a great little campground and we had a lot of fun. Thankfully the hubs talked me into only 2 nights because it was plenty for our family. It was just enough to have fun but not too much to get tired of being out of the norm. I loved not having a working phone or computer and just taking time to relax and enjoy my family. My mother in law is visiting us from Alaska and went along with and we just had a blast with Grandma here! So here comes the flood of pictures from our trip!

Grandma with the kiddos at Twin Lakes

The Fish, loving the great outdoors.

Our view of the lakes.

Ky Guy walking the dog.

Ky Guy helping the fish look through the viewer, he LOVED it!

The Hubs and The Fish hiking in the woods.

Ky Guy and Bentley on our family hike

Grandma, Lippy Lou, The Hubs and The Fish

Peek-a-boo Lippy Lou!!

And it was about at this point that I let Lynner talk me into hiking back to camp instead of taking the trail back to the car and riding home. It was an additional 4 miles back to camp and boy was that a LONG trek!! Hiking 4 miles is a lot harder to do than just straight walking and it takes a heck of a lot longer too. I think after all it helped me to stretch out my back, but I continued to be dizzy almost the entire hike but thankfully didn't pass out. My poor mother-in-law kept asking The Hubs if they sound start looking for us because it took so long for us to get back, but we were fine and had a great time, once it was over! Ky Guy and Bentley took the hike with us and Ky Guy kept telling Lynner that she owed us big time for making us hike 4 miles!!

PWEEEEEEEEESE! Oh ok Fish you can have you first soda all to yourself.

Lippy Lou loving some time with Grandma in the swing.

Lynner and The Fish with Grandma!

Here is Ky Guy's "ok fine mom I will smile" smile *rolls eyes*

The Fish testing out the big kids' tent.

I hope you have enjoyed today's post about our camping trip, tomorrow I will show pictures of the fishing adventure from Friday!

Breast Cancer 3 Day Training Log

2010-07-19T20:07:00.001-07:00

So again I am posting about my training or lack there of but at least I am putting it out there. I am sad that I am having major issues with dizziness and back pain but hopefully when I see the dr this week we can get it all straightened out.

Monday - ugh why am I still dizzy...

Tuesday - dizzy much?

Wednesday - the room gets foggy and I feel as tho I am going to pass out.

Thursday - still have the dizzies and back is starting to cause problems.

Friday - 10 miles with Mel

Saturday - Back is super sore and I had to pick the girls up from camp so no training walks for me.

Sunday - Back says no walking for you today.

Monday - Back says no walking for you again today and you should go see your dr.

Tuesday - Back issues and Dizziness, Dr. says do blood work and take it easy.

Wednesday - Still having major back issues and laying low.

Thursday - Hiked 5 miles with Lynner and Ky Guy at camp.

Friday - 3 miles with the girls and MIL at our campground.

Saturday - 2 miles with the MIL

Sunday - 2 miles with the MIL

Total for the past 2 weeks = 20 miles

2010's total = 247.65

Arlington Fly-In and Balloon Glow

2010-07-11T19:43:00.000-07:00

Yesterday while driving home from picking the girls up at camp I heard about a "balloon glow" that would be happening that night at the Arlington airport. This is where they set up hot air balloons around dusk and light them up with the flames it requires to keep the "balloon" afloat. I remember seeing the hot air balloons as a child with my Aunt Sandy and Uncle Dave and still have very fond memories of these times so I decided that I need to take my kiddos out and make some memories of our own. I am so glad we took the time to go because it was AMAZING. The 2.5 hr wait was not so amazing but we still had a TON of fun. I kept the kids busy with carmel apples, sno-cones, lemonade and kettle corn while we walked around looking at all kinds of airplanes. We got to watch a few planes take flight and show off which was nice as well.

The kids playing around while we were waiting.

Around dusk 4 trucks/trailers came out to the field in front of us and began the set up of their hot air balloons. We were in for a real treat! Below are some of the pictures of set up.

And the best part of the night...watching the balloons GLOW!

If you ever get to go see this in person you MUST, it is simply amazing!

4th of July Family Style

2010-07-11T18:58:00.001-07:00

This year we decided that instead of making a huge deal out of the 4th of July we would hang out as a family have a nice barbecue dinner and for the first time ever do our own fireworks. I started out by making this incredibly cute cake by 17 and Baking. I used Tidymom's "The Perfect Cupcake" recipe for my cakes and they were so moist and delish!

Start with 3 cakes, 1 each Red, White and Blue.

I can't believe I forgot pics of the second step but you level the red and white layers and cut them in half and level the blue layer leaving it whole. Stack the first two layers of red and white on your plate filling with frosting ( I used canned ). Stack the remaining layers together and cut a circle out of the middle I used a small bowl to cut around. Once these are cut remove the blue outer ring and place it on top of the red and white layer and then take the two center red and white circles and place them in the center of the blue ring. Make sure to frost between all layers. Lippy Lou insisted that we use chocolate frosting, which turned out cute but I would have preferred buttercream myself!

Here is how our beauty turned out.

After dinner and cake we set off our fireworks and the kids had a blast!

Sparklers...Lippy Lou would have NOTHING to do with them so she isn't pictured.

I LOVE this picture of Lynner

(The Fish kept trying to blow them out)

Rare picture of Ky Guy

The Hubs ;)

Breast Cancer 3 Day Training Log

2010-07-08T12:00:00.001-07:00

The one in which I tell you how much I suck at training lately....

To bring you all back up to speed about 3 weeks ago I started feeling dizzy and couldn't get past the feeling that I was going to pass out. It started shortly after my last post when I walked 22 miles in 2 days. Here is how the past two weeks have gone, and as of now I am still feeling quite dizzy and lightheaded and am headed to my primary dr again next week.

Monday - Went to ER, they couldn't find anything wrong.

Tuesday - Went to DR, he thinks I am dehydrated tells me to drink it up.

Wednesday - Drinking it up (over 80 oz of sports drink)

Thursday - Drinking it up

Friday - Drinking it up and walked 2 miles

Saturday - Ran a 5K and fell and got hurt, but kept on going!

Sunday - Hobbled on a hurt ankle for 4 miles

Monday - Continued to hobble on hurt ankle around the house.

Tuesday - Dehydration recheck with dr told to take it easy on ankle.

Wednesday - Taking it easy.

Thursday - Taking it easy.

Friday - Walked 10 miles with Mel while feeling dizzy.

Saturday - Too dizzy to join the group for a 14 mile walk.

Sunday - Still dizzy but walked 4 miles on my own.

This 2 weeks - 22.1

2010's total - 227.65

Best Salad EVER!

2010-06-30T19:04:00.000-07:00

So last April I rode the train for the very first time ever and when it came time to have dinner I wandered down to the snack car and bought myself a salad. It was the best salad EVER, and tonight I recreated that salad because I LOVE it and lets face it, it's too expensive to take a train ride just for the salad, although this weekend I got to enjoy two of those salads as I was taking the train to run a 5K! So because I love this salad so much I am going to share my recipe with you!

Linsay's Farmer's Market Salad

Cran-Raspberry Vinaigrette

2 cups Cranberry Juice

1 cup Fresh Raspberries

2 TBS Olive Oil

2 TBS Honey

2 TBS Red Wine Vinegar

1/4 tsp Salt

1/4 tsp Pepper

Combine Cranberry Juice and Raspberries in a small sauce pan on stove and bring to a boil. Continue to build until it is reduced to 1/2 cup total. Combine with remaining ingredients in the blender on liquify until smooth. ~~Resist tasting as you won't be able to stop.~~

Salad

1 Apple chopped (I used Pink Lady)

1/2 Cup Chopped Dried Apricots

3/4 Cup Dried Cranberries

1/2 Cup Sliced Almonds

2.5 oz Blue Cheese

1/2 Bag of Baby Spinach

1/2 Bag of Chopped Romaine Lettuce

Layer lettuce, Blue Cheese, Sliced Almonds, Dried Cranberries, Dried Apricots and Apple in a large salad bowl. Served topped with Cran-Raspberry Vinaigrette. ENJOY!! If you try this you have to tell me if you like it. Everyone in our house besides Lippy Lou LOVED it. I can't believe 3 out of 4 kids enjoyed the blue cheese!

Want more great summer recipes? Check out Works for Me Wednesday on We are THAT family!

This post is also linked to Foodie Friday, check it out!

The Post In Which I Win Mother of the Year.....

2010-06-30T09:40:00.000-07:00

Because any mom who is willing to fill 100 water balloons all while knowing that it is going to take 10 mins for said water balloons to be popped and all over her backyard deserves an award. After we put water balloon fight on our Summer Bucket List the kids asked daily when they could cross this one off. I bought a water balloon kit at Target in the Dollar Spot about 3 weeks ago and that just seemed to fuel the fire! So Monday I decided that even though I wasn't feeling well I would bite the bullet and fill some balloons. In the end we had about 94 balloons in our bucket and they had a BLAST!

The one in which Ky Guy tags Lynner in the back.

The Hubs decided he needed to get in on the action!

I was the only one who successfully tagged Ky Guy, see that pink balloon on his back??

Ready....Aim...FIRE!

The kiddos in action.

Lippy Lou running from the splash.

The Fish wanted in on the action!

Thar he THROWS

A great time was had by all with only minimal whining by Lippy Lou which is par for course in this family. If it wasn't so hard to fill the balloons I would say this would be something we would do over and over and over. The kids had a BLAST!

What is on YOUR bucket list?

Let Summer Begin...

2010-06-26T07:55:00.000-07:00

right along with the summer bucket list! While the big kids were at camp this week Lippy Lou, The Fish and I started our weekly trips to the library and we had a great time! We were only able to spend about 30 minutes there due to a dr. appt looming in the afternoon but we still made the best of it. The Fish wasn't sure what to think at first and was acting all sorts of shy but he soon warmed up to the idea of pulling books off the shelves to look at and even tried to make a friend! They each picked out 3 books to bring home and we have been reading them over and over and over. Here are some pictures from the day!

If only she always looked this sweet!

I should have known The Fish would pick a bus book, he LOVES buses.

He seemed amazed at the sheer number of books!

This one must have been silly as she was stifling a giggle!

My Heart is Whole Again

2010-06-25T18:19:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday I dropped half my heart off at Operation Purple a summer camp for military children dealing with deployment. Today my heart is whole again after retrieving said campers from camp. This was their first experience at summer camp and my first experience having them be away from the house for more than one night. I myself have been away from my children for more than a couple of nights but they were always home safe and sound with daddy and I could speak to them each night.

Just before leaving the kids at camp we saw this awesome "halo" around the sun, something I have never seen before.

My campers crossing the bridge at camp, with their little sis in tow.

For 5 long nights I was not even able to pick up a phone to call and check on them, it was harder than I ever thought it would be, I missed them terribly. The only thing that kept me sane was knowing that they were having a GREAT time. And a GREAT time did they have. We have spent the majority of today talking about all of the fun things they did. I even found out that their fears of having horrible camp food weren't realized. They said they ate very well all week, and that not a single meal was "bad", they absolutely loved everything they were fed! My heart aches for the two boys at camp who lost their father who was overseas fighting for our freedom while they camped at Operation Purple. Their father paid the ultimate price for our freedom and his family needs our prayers in their time of grief.

The Fish was so excited to see Lynner, he had cried for her almost every night at bedtime :(

Ky Guy received the award for Strangest Sleeping Position. He was sleeping on the floor due because the mattresses were lumpy..silly boy!

The Fish did not want to leave his sissie's side!

Lynner with her new friend!

I got up at 6 am today to drive the 3 hours each way to pick up my babies and the drive over was tough because I was very sleepy. The hubs woke up at 4 am very sick and I was unable to fall back asleep after he woke up. So I was running on just 4 hours of sleep but once I had the extra kiddos in the car telling tons of camp stories I was wide away and energized, the Starbucks Double Shot may have had something to do with it also.

Once we got home we spent the entire afternoon on the trampoline just having a blast. Here are some shots of us in action. Ky Guy isn't one for having his picture taken so it's just the rest of us having some good ole fashion fun!

Lynner perfecting the front flip

Lippy Lou having fun.

And while I may be in my 30's I still have it!

And yes I can flip too, can't land on my feet YET but I will!

The Fish is loving the trampoline too!!

Sorry for the picture overload but it has been awhile since I have posted some of the kiddos!

Breast Cancer 3 Day Training Log

2010-06-23T11:33:00.001-07:00

Monday - break
Tuesday - 2 miles
Wednesday - break
Thursday - 1 mile
Friday - 10 miles
Saturday - 12 miles
Sunday - driving my kiddos to camp

This weeks total = 25 miles!
2010's miles = 205.55 Whooo hooo over the 200 mile mark!

Sugar and Salt Scrubs

2010-06-17T14:07:00.000-07:00

Today was the last day of school so for Lippy Lou's wonderful teachers I made some sugar and salt scrubs. Some of my family members may recognize these as I gave them as gifts a couple of years back for Christmas. They are a great thing to have around and I actually made some more up for myself because I missed having it around. To start off I found these wonderful jars at Fred Meyer in the canning section and they are perfect!!

They are made by Ball and they are the Elite Platinum Collection and I just love their simple elegance.

For the salt scrub I used grape seed oil, sea salt, lime essential oil, lemon essential oil and sweet orange essential oil. I just filled the jar with salt and added oil until it looked just right, not too wet and not to dry. Then I added 10 drops of each essential oil and mixed it up really well in the jar.

The sugar scrub is even easier it is just Sugar in the Raw, grape seed oil and vanilla essential oil. Add sugar to jar and again add oil til it looks just right and then add 20 drops of essential oil and mix well.

Let me know if you try these out and like them. You can add all sorts of different essential oils to make different scrubs to your liking. I also made a cinnamon sugar one last night and it smells delish!! The teachers were thrilled to receive them this morning. Told them it was to help start their summer vacation on a relaxing note!! Lynner has male teachers so we got them each a treat from Starbucks, they enjoyed that as well!

4th of July Wreath

2010-06-15T21:43:00.000-07:00

Remember this from last year????

It still looks just as awesome on the door this year, thought I would share it for all the followers who missed it last time around. I am loving it this year just the same as last! Looks great for 4th of July or any other patriotic holidays as well.

Happy Birthday Lippy Lou

2010-06-15T20:40:00.001-07:00

It is hard to believe that 7 years ago you looked like this....

And have slowly grown into a beautiful young lady. Even though you are our strong willed child that has been stubborn from birth with your sweet little chubby toes so wedged into my birth canal that there was no way the doctors could turn your 10 lb 1 oz little body around inside of me, we wouldn't trade you for anything (ok so somedays I dream of trading you for a never ending supply of yarn, but that is only when you are screaming at me for something). I love you sweet girl! Happy Birthday.

Breast Cancer 3-Day Training Log

2010-06-14T10:24:00.000-07:00

Here is an update of last weeks totals, not to great for a whole week but I was out of commission Monday-Wednesday due to drs orders.

Monday - OOC

Tuesday - OOC

Wednesday - OOC

Thursday - 2 miles

Friday - 1 mile

Saturday - 12 miles

Sunday - Boobie'Q with my friend Melanie

This weeks total = 15 miles

2010's total = 180.55 ( hope to go over 200 this week!! )

Breast Cancer 3-Day Training Log

2010-06-07T10:18:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay last week was a lazy one but I thought I would post about it anyways.

Monday - recovering from sickness

Tuesday - resting still

Wednesday - 2 miles

Thursday - super duper busy

Friday - 1 mile

Saturday - 6 mile training walk with other 3 day walkers

Sunday - 4 miles (Race for a Cure 5K with Lynner + walking around Seattle)

This weeks wimpy total = 13 miles

2010's total = 166.55

Summer Bucket List

2010-06-06T18:07:00.000-07:00

When going through my blog roll the other day I came across this post from Lori at Be Different Act Normal and I just knew our family had to do one. So tonight after dinner we sat at the table and came up with our summer bucket list and I am so excited to have fun things planned for us. I will be taking pictures as we do each thing on our Summer Bucket List and share them with you all summer long!

Go camping in Oregon.

Summer camp for big kids.

Backyard camping.

Roast marshmallows.

Visit a water park.

Visit a beach.

~~See Toy Story 3.~~

See Karate Kid 3.

Visit library once a week.

Go fishing as a family.

Go to the zoo.

Visit six new parks.

Visit a Wildlife Reserve.

Visit a Farm.

Visit Seattle Children's Museum.

Visit Museum of Flight.

Visit Space Needle in Seattle.

Have Papa visit.

Family family game night once a month.

~~Water balloon fight.~~

Make marshmallow guns for a marshmallow war.

Make sidewalk paint.

Make playdough.

Have a scavenger hunt.

Take a train ride.

Sleepover with Leslie

Go biking once a week.

Movie night every other week.

Do three science projects.

Repaint Ky's Dresser.

Finish furniture project.

Go Hiking.

Make a blanket fort and leave up for a week.

Teach girls to knit.

No TV once a week (kids wanted this ;) )

Fireworks on the 4th of July.

Cook freezer meals together.

Potty train The Fish (aka 3 yr old)

Stay in PJ's for the day.

Bake cookies.

~~Buy a slip and slide.~~

Mom goes camping with her bff.

Dad goes camping with his bff.

What has been taking up my time...

2010-06-04T08:41:00.000-07:00

Over the past week and a half I have had a ton of stuff to do with raffle cans being the biggest project that HAD to get done. The ladies at the school saw the teacher appreciation gifts I brought in during teacher appreciation week and came looking for me to ask if I would do raffle cans. Silly me said "OK", 17 raffle cans later I was totally regretting that answer. I am really glad I was able to help and think they turned out GREAT, but it was a lot of work and a lot of staying up til 1 am to get them done on time. So here they are in all their glory! (at least 6 of them) I am really sad I didn't get a picture of all 17, but I was tired and the bed was calling me.

There were made from the huge peach cans from the school cafeteria, construction paper, my cricut, fabric and tape, lots and lots of tape! If you have any questions on how I did them let me know! Each of the 17 places that donated items to be raffled off had a can and you could place your tickets in the can of your choosing. The carnival had a great turn out and lots of fun was had by all!

Breast Cancer 3-Day Training Log

2010-06-03T14:07:00.000-07:00

Ok so I have to apologize for not catching up last week but we got sick on Sunday and then it was all down hill....

Monday - 2 miles

Tuesday - rest

Wednesday - 3 miles

Thursday - 6.25 miles

Friday - rest

Saturday - 10.4 miles

Sunday - Sicker than a dog and haven't walked since :(

This weeks totals = 21.65 (not to shabby for 3 days off)

2010's total = 153.55 !!!

Making Butter and Buttermilk

2010-05-28T20:31:00.000-07:00

A few months ago I saw a short segment on tv about making butter and buttermilk out of whipping cream and tonight I was looking for something to do with the kiddos and we had heavy whipping cream in the fridge so I thought we would give it a try. After what seemed like a year of shaking here is what we came up with.

Before we poured the buttermilk off.

Separated.

Overhead view.

I think next time we are going to try the salted version, this turned out really good though. The kids were excited to see the process and have something fun come out of all their hard work. They are planning buttermilk pancakes for breakfast tomorrow!

PINK hair-o-meter

2010-05-28T07:17:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update on the from brunette to bleach blonde to PINK head fund raiser. I started a pink hair-o-meter over on my facebook fan page and thought I would share it on my blog as well. As of right now we are $381 down and $1119 to go until I will be forced to dye my hair PINK. I don't really want to have pink hair but am willing to sacrifice my pride for a CURE!

So here is a sneak peek of what I will look like with PINK hair. I am pretty sure it will be a lot brighter but my photoshop skills aren't that great.

Works for Me Wednesday - Potty Training Post-its

2010-05-25T21:13:00.000-07:00

Have you ever had a toddler who was learning how to use the big boy/girl potty but flat out refused to go in public for fear that the toilet was going to self flush?? Well when Lynner was around 2.5 years old we took her to Olive Garden for dinner and the toilet in the ladies room flushed on her SEVEN times which scared her half to death. She had been completely potty trained for almost six months at that point. A week later we were at Toys R Us and she was begging to go home. Not just asking, but BEGGING. I had no idea what was wrong with her, I honestly thought she was sick. What child begs to go home when they are in the middle of a toy store! I had several things I needed to do while I was there so I kept asking her why she wanted to go home and she never did give an answer, at least verbally, but when I heard the tinkle on the ground I instantly knew. When I asked her why she didn't ask to go to the bathroom she admitted she was scared. Luckily Toys R Us has diapers in the restroom so I was able to put one on her and still finish shopping. She had a dress on so we just tossed her undies and went on our way.

Fast forward a few weeks and I am on the phone with my momma complaining that I can't get Lynner to use a public restroom to save my life. I told momma that she was terrified of the self flushing toilets and that she flat out REFUSED to go. My momma was a smart, smart woman she instantly says "well buy some post-it notes and slap one over the sensor so it won't flush on her". Next trip to the store we buy some post-its and go into the bathroom and I show Lynner how her new "magic stickers" work and she was so impressed! Magic Stickers have helped so many children in my life since that day. We are getting ready to potty train The Fish and let me tell you one of the first things that will go in my potty training pack is some good ole Magic Stickers, aka Post-It notes. And that my friends WORKS FOR ME! For more ideas go check out Kristen at We Are THAT Family!

Breast Cancer 3-Day Training Log

2010-05-23T18:42:00.001-07:00

Monday: 5 miles walking girls to school and back and heading to the post office also.

Tuesday: 1 mile

Wednesday: 6 miles, the girls both had a fun run at school so I participated with both of them.

Thursday: rest

Friday: 1 mile

Saturday: 8.2 mile training walk with Kindred Spirits

Sunday: 10 miles with Mel, a friend I met at last weeks training walk!

This weeks total : 31.2 miles!!!!

2010's total : 131.9 miles

Breast Cancer 3-Day Training Log

2010-05-16T21:03:00.000-07:00

Friday,

Got in a full 5 miles on Friday between walking 3 miles in the am with The Fish and the dog and 2 miles in the evening with the dog.

Saturday:

Trained with the 3 Day team Kindred Spirits in Mukilteo for a total of 6.8 miles, met some new ladies and had a great time!

Sunday:

Walked 2 miles with Lynner and the dog and then immediately jumped on the treadmill and did another 4 miles. Boy am I wiped out tonight!!

This weeks total = 27.7 miles
2010's total = 100.7 miles WHOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOO

Still looking for donations to raise funds for the minimum require amounts and for the next 4 weeks if you donate you could cause me to go from a Brunette to a Bleach Blonde to a PINK head!

Wanna see me go from a Brunette to a Blonde to a PINK head......

2010-05-16T07:00:00.000-07:00

Yes you heard me right PINK head, that is if you all are up to the challenge. As most of you know I will be walking in the Breast Cancer 3 Day in San Francisco October 1st-3rd with my bff, Jessica and each of us is required to raise $2300 in order to participate. This year I am willing to do something drastic in order to raise those funds. I am willing to dye my hair permanent PINK, which my hair dresser, Michelle Ripley at Blonde and Beyond Hair Design in Marysville, WA has graciously donated her services for. She said it takes a very long time and requires that I go completely BLEACH BLONDE (which I have never done before) in order for the pink dye to take. I will be taking pictures of the entire process with my brand new Samsung DuelView.

So what is your part in this you ask?? I need you all to collectively donate $1500 in the next 4 weeks for me to be willing to dye my hair pink and leave it that way for SIX weeks. Each donation MUST have your name (or anonymous) followed by *GO PINK* in order to count towards the $1500 goal. If you can only donate a little but know tons of people who would like me to *GO PINK* please by all means SPREAD the word! I will be updating my facebook page as each donation comes in with the grand total raised.

So if you would like to see me go from Brunette (see the sassy new do above).... to Bleach Blonde.... to PINK scoot on over and DONATE now!

Have any questions please let me know! Thank you in advance for helping us save the boobies!

Topped for a Year Raffle + YARN Winners Are....

2010-05-15T22:05:00.000-07:00

The winners were selected on random.org

Amber (great job getting in that last minute entry!)

and Elizabeth

Thank you both for your generous donations! I will be getting your booklets and yarn in the mail soon!!

Breast Cancer 3-Day Training Log

2010-05-14T09:47:00.000-07:00

Catching up...

Tuesday: Walked 3 miles in the am with The Fish and Bentley and surprisingly The Fish didn't cry the whole way after mile 1, it was amazing, he normally freaks out after 1 mile. I did an additional 2 miles picking the girls up from school as I walked to the post office before picking them up.

Wednesday: Repeated Tuesday morning doing 3 miles with The Fish and Bentley, it was a great morning that day as well.

Thursday: DAY OFF!

I plan on doing at least 5 miles on Today and I am going on a 6.8 mile training walk tomorrow with one of the Seattle teams. And then a slower paced 4 mile walk on Sunday, hoping to get the hubs to go with me.

This Weeks Total = 11.9

2010's total = 82.9 (so close to 100!!)

I can't believe I am posting this...

2010-05-10T21:32:00.000-07:00

I have a huge issue with play dough. I don't like it. AT. ALL. It gets in the carpet, it gets in the wood cracks on the table, it dries up and makes a HUGE MESS. I have never liked it, EVER. But I am realizing that it may just be in important thing in my son's life so I am pushing aside my disdain for it and decided to make him some play dough to play with. His speech therapist thinks it will be beneficial in his therapy for learning colors, shapes, how to use scissors and many other things.

So on Saturday after going to see Elmo I decided that the girls and I would make 6 different colors of play dough for him to use during the week. And of course the girls were super excited to make play dough that was actually going to stay at home. I have made it many other times but normally we shipped it off to preschool classes or other friends, but never did it remain in our home to be played with. I know, I know, I have issues.

So on to the real plan at hand, teaching all of you how to make your own play dough. Ky Guy's day care provider gave me a recipe for Kool-Aid Play Dough many many many years ago and it has always been my go to recipe. I LOVE the texture, the smell, and well just about everything about it.

Kool-Aid Play Dough Recipe

1/2 cup Salt

2 cups Water

2 tbs vegetable oil

2.5-3 Cups Flour

2 tbs Alum (found near the spices)

2 packages of Kool-Aid in any flavor

Boil water and salt in a pot until salt is dissolved. While water and salt are beginning to boil combine 2.5 cups of flour, alum and Kool-Aid packages. Once water has come to a boil add vegetable oil and combine with flour mixture. Stir with spoon until well combine. Once the mixture is at a temperature that you can handle without burning your hands begin to knead the dough, adding remaining 1/2 cup of flour until the dough is no longer sticky. Be careful not to add to much flour as it will make your play dough dry out way to fast.

These are the six colors we ended up with.

#1 Purple = Grape Kool-Aid

#2 Yellow = Lemonaid Kool-Aid + yellow food coloring

#3 Hot Pink = Cherry Kool-Aid

#4 Red = Pink Lemonaid Kool-Aid + red food coloring

#5 Orange = Orange Kool-Aid

#6 Blue = Berry Blue Kool-Aid

The other day I found these great containers at the dollar store and picked them up knowing I was going to make play dough in the near future, they turned out working great for 1/2 batch and because I planned on giving 1/2 of each batch away it was perfect...except for the fact that I didn't buy enough so I put 1/2 in the containers and 1/2 in a Ziploc bag, both are great for storage!

After we got done making the play dough the girls, The Fish and I walked to Joann Fabrics with my 40% off coupon and found this great set of cookie cutters, prefect for our new play dough. With coupon the set was $9, I found it by the baking supplies.

We returned home and set up a table outside and the kids played for hours! I had some finish work to do on their picnic table so I was able to work on that while they played and we all enjoyed a great afternoon outside. The Hubs and Ky Guy were off fishing so it was a fun way to spend our afternoon without them.

Despite what the pictures show The Fish really did LOVE playing with play dough he was just avoiding the camera...silly boy!

I shared my project on

The DIY Show Off Parade

And

Making the World Cuter Monday

And

With Today's Creative Blog

Breast Cancer 3-Day Training Log

2010-05-10T21:28:00.000-07:00

Today was a great day for training. I got in a full 2 miles this morning with The Fish and Bentley and The Fish didn't cry at all today! It helped that we were playing a game with Teddy Grahams called "Please Don't Eat Me". I was pretending to be the Teddy Grahams and making up voices for each one asking The Fish not to eat me. He was pretty amused by the whole thing...and hey whatever works right???

This afternoon Bentley and I headed over to the post office to drop off orders and pick up the girls from school on the way back home for a total of 1.9 miles.

This weeks total = 3.9 miles

2010's total = 71 miles

Breast Cancer 3-Day Training Log

2010-05-09T21:41:00.000-07:00

Today I walked 2 miles with the dog and jogged 2.5 miles on the treadmill after having a great Mother's Day with my family. We went shopping for a new digital camera that isn't big and bulky to take with me on this years walk and I can't wait to tell you all about it! I plan on taking it on some of my longer training walks with me also so I have more than just words on these boring training posts ;). I hope to join up with the team I trained with last year to walk some of these longer walks with and meet some new people.

I am still looking for one person each week to sponsor my training miles, if you are interested in do so please shoot me an email.

This week's total = 20.6

2010's total = 67.1

la, la, la, la....la, la, la, la Elmo's World....

2010-05-08T21:47:00.001-07:00

Last night the hubs came home and handed me 4 tickets to see 1-2-3 Imagine with Elmo and Friends and I was soooooooo excited, no really I was. I had wanted to buy these tickets for The Fish so he could go see Elmo live and when the hubs got the FREE from work I was overjoyed to take him and his sisters to go and see the show! We had a GREAT time and I highly recommend this show for all your toddlers. Lippy Lou (almost 7) and Lynner (almost 10) said they liked it much more than they thought they would also, so it was all around a good time for all of us.

Since we were able to get in for free I did splurge and get an over priced ballon and a t-shirt for The Fish and some cotton candy and popcorn for all. Total spent for parking and fun stuff at the show $45 and worth every penny.

Yum COTTON CANDY!

Teacher Appreciation

2010-05-08T19:55:00.000-07:00

Ok so I know it was last week and I know I should have posted this sooner for all of you who needed ideas but guess what?? The school year is coming to an end here soon and I know all of you could use some ideas for teachers gifts for that as well.

A few weeks ago Lippy Lou's teacher asked me to help her with a crafty project because Lippy Lou is always telling her how crafty I am. I of course said YES! We planted sweet potatoes in recycled peach cans from the school cafeteria during earth day and the kids decorated the cans and I came in to take pictures of the kids so that their mom's would also receive a nice picture of them on Mom's Day! Little did Mrs. Hansen know that I also had a trick up my sleeve and the timing was prefect for Teacher Appreciation.

I went in on Wednesday and took pictures of each of the kids in Lippy Lou's class, came home and photoshopped them all and sent them to costco.com to print same day. I picked them up a few hours later and went to work. I used my cricut to cut out the flowers and letters, purchased 11X17 shadowbox frames at Michael's for 40% off, used pop up stickies to attach the "flowers" to the shadowbox and made up my own vase. In case it is hard to see the words say "Thank you for helping us BLOOM and GROW". Oh and yes I know one flower doesn't have a picture, that is because Little Suzy wasn't in class the day I took pictures, I have promised to come in and take her picture and get it ready for the flower before the end of the school year.

I worked until midnight on Wednesday on the first one and then again until 11 pm on Thursday for the second one, it was a lot of work but so well worth it. Lippy Lou has two teachers, Mrs. Hansen and Mrs. Pheiffe. Mrs. Pheiffe is a student teacher who just recently took over the classroom for the remainder of the year for her studies. Mrs. Hansen has been a WONDERFUL teacher, easy to talk to, great to work with and awesome to bounce ideas off of when it comes to Lippy Lou's behavior at home. I couldn't have asked for a better teacher for her this year, we have truly been blessed beyond measure.

Friday morning I walked the girl to school proudly carrying each of the shadowboxes in hand. Lippy Lou was just BEAMING with pride. She showed anyone who would look and we got all sorts of ooohs and ahhs. We found Mrs. Pheiffe first and Lippy Lou prsented her with her box and she was excited to see all the kids shining faces. Then we set off to find Mrs. Hansen and found her walking down the hallway. Lippy Lou slowly walked up to her and turned her shadow box around and tears welled up in Mrs. Hansen's eyes...and yes in mine as well. She was so sweet and proceeded to parade around the school showing anyone who would look. it was so cute to see her so proud of her "kids". So if you get the chance to offer to do pictures for your child's classroom and make a shadowbox for your favorite teacher you should, they will love it!

Here's Little Lippy Lou from Tenbucktwo

Breast Cancer 3-Day Training Log

2010-05-08T19:52:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I walked the girls to school and continued on to do a total of 2 miles in the morning and another mile to pick them up in the afternoon.

Today I walked with the 3 younger kiddos to Joann Fabrics to pick up some fun things I will tell you all about tomorrow for a total of 1 mile and then this evening I hopped on the treadmill to do a total of 3.5 miles in 46 minutes because the hubs is out fishing with Ky Guy and taking the 3 younger ones on a long walk just wasn't going to happen.

This weeks total = 16.1

2010's Total = 62.6

Breast Cancer 3-Day Training Log

2010-05-07T08:22:00.000-07:00

Now that the wind storms are over and the sun is shining bright I have been able to get out and get walking! Yesterday morning I took The Fish and Bentley on a 2 mile walk which included dropping the girls off at school. It was a beautiful day and a very refreshing way to start the day.

I came home after the walk and finished up some stuff for work and became some maniac cleaning machine. I was having some emotional/PMS/grieving issues yesterday and I turned it into something positive by cleaning the house. House looks great and I am feeling better! After the clean fest, cooking dinner and delivering packages to the post office I set out on another 2 mile walk with the dog.

During the many training walks I often reflect on why I am out there, who I am walking for and just how amazing walking 60 mile is. I also think about fund raising and let me tell you one of the ideas I got from a fellow walker is something big and you will soon find out just what it is I have up my sleeve and Jess is game to do the same. I can't wait to share our shenanigans with you, but for now I am keeping quiet on the whole thing. A hint....it's PINK (like you didn't know that already) :P

Yesterday's total = 4 miles

This week's total = 8.6 miles

2010's total = 55.1

Breast Cancer 3-Day Training Log

2010-05-05T09:54:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a huge milestone for me. I needed to go get some paper and other supplies for mailing out my donation letters from Staples and I decided that I would take The Fish for a walk, it was 3 miles round trip and since he wasn't up for anymore walking I brought him home and dropped him off with Ky Guy and took Bentley on a 1.6 mile walk to pick up the girls from school. So yesterday I did a total of 4.6 miles which put me over FIFTY miles training so far! I was exited to hit the first big milestone in training. Here's to another 600 or so!

This week's total = 4.6

2010's total = 51.1

Breast Cancer 3-Day Training Log

2010-05-04T09:24:00.000-07:00

Wow it's been awhile since I have updated on this and I am ashamed to say I haven't walked much since updating...

Here's the low down on my walking.

Thursday 3/29 = 2 miles

Sunday 5/1 = 2 miles

Last week's total = 13 miles

2010's total = 46.5 miles

Last weekend was my step dad's funeral service so I was out of town for a few days and yesterday we had a TERRIBLE wind storm that I wasn't about to walk out into. I plan on passing up 50 miles total today so I will be checking in with you soon!

Picture of Motherhood

2010-05-04T06:54:00.000-07:00

When I first read Kirsten's post at We are THAT Family about motherhood it brought back so many memories. With The Fish turning 3 this month I am instantly drawn back to the time of his birth and his NICU stay. The picture above was taken by a nurse who fished my camera out of my backpack. At that point in his stay in the NICU we were not allowed to hold him but had finally been given permission to "cradle" him in our arm. I was so comforted by being able to bond with him in this way and so exhausted from the c-section/stress/lack of sleep that I was out in a matter of minutes. I am forever thankful that his nurse caught this moment on film. In all it's imperfections this picture is perfect. I am forever grateful that we made it through that stay and we now have a lively almost 3 year old *tear* running around our house today.

Mother's day is a bitter sweet time for me as I lost my mom 3 years ago after her long battle with many sicknesses. I am blessed to have had her by my side for 29 years, but still miss her tremendously. She was my rock, my best friend, my mommy!

Happy Mother's Day to all those mom's out there.

Kirsten over at We are That Family is hosting a giveaway that is all about motherhood, check it out.

Topped for a Year Raffle + YARN!

2010-05-02T19:00:00.000-07:00

This Raffle comes to you from the amazing woman behind the name Tot Toppers, Kate Oates. Kate has graciously offered to donate TWO of her brand new Topped for a Year pattern booklets to be raffled off with a skein of yarn each for two lucky winners. I have purchased a beautiful skein of Manos del Uruguay Wool Clasica in blue for the Master Charles (February's Pattern) for one raffle winner and Cotton Twirl by Crystal Palace Yarns in light blue for the Sunny Textured Cap (June's Pattern). Each raffle entry can be obtained by donating $5 to my Breast Cancer 3 Day Walk. You can donate by going to my personal donate site www.the3day.org/goto/inhonorofcatherine. Once confirmation of the donation is received I will put your name on my excel sheet one time for each $5 donated, so 4 times for $20, 6 times for $30 etc. At the close of the raffle I will choose two random winners using www.random.org. All raffle entries must be received by May 15th at 12 pm EST in order to qualify. The winners will be notified via email and on my blog on May 16th.

Manos del Uruguay Wool Clasica in Blue

Crystal Palace Yarns Cotton Twist in Light Blue

As each week goes by I get closer and closer to day one of the Breast Cancer 3 Day which means I am one day closer to the deadline of having raised $2300. To date I am at $670 which means I still have to raise another $1630 and right now I feel confident with your help I can reach my goal!

A special thank you goes out to Sarah Parker at Wildfibers in Mount Vernon, WA for helping me select the yarns for this raffle. Sarah is truly a special woman who I am grateful to get to see each time I make the trip up to Mount Vernon for yarn!

Hail to the Chief......

2010-04-28T07:00:00.001-07:00

Or farewell to the thin blooded. So in the Navy there is tradition of having a Hail and Farewell each time a new group of people come to or leave a ship. Along with this tradition there is also the tradition of exchanging gifts, some serious and some not so serious. Last night was The Hubs farewell and in his typical fashion he informs me on Monday night that he has yet to purchase any of his gifts. Sitting at the dinner table talking about not knowing what to do Lippy Lou butts in and says "Ummm HELLO, she's crafty" pointing to non other than myself. The Hubs and I both got a good laugh out of that one! So we tossed a few ideas around and stole an idea from my bff and set off for some serious shopping, have I mentioned that The Hubs HATES shopping??

We ended up with some atomic fire balls, a stuffed squirrel, a play hatchet, a magnifying glass, a map, a horribly flowered button up shirt, some mason jars, a candy bar and some old movies just to name few. After a whirl wind shopping trip we end up back home where I begin to get my crafty on.

Turns out one of the officers on the ship loves Mr. Goodbar so.....

Special thanks to Jess for the great idea, see she was having me cut the vinyl for her shadow box this week and well as you can see I liked it!

And for the poor guy who has to fill in as CHENG until the new guy gets there....

I have to admit that the whole gift card idea was The Hubs but putting it in an old military award folder, that was all me. Here it is complete with the fine print...

So while I am glad and The Hubs is relieved that he won't be going on deployment with his fellow shipmates he sure will miss his crew. He really was fortunate to have a great bunch of guys working for him this tour. Fair winds and following seas!

Breast Cancer 3-Day Training Log

2010-04-27T18:13:00.000-07:00

Sunday night while talking with The Hubs we decided that in order for us to get some much needed alone time we would try to start getting up 30 minutes early each morning and walking 2 miles together. We started yesterday and it went really well, it was nice to visit with him and get some training in at the same time. I also walked the girls to school along with The Fish and Bentley and we continued on to do a total of 2 additional miles. After school I got one more mile in by walking to pick the girls up. So Monday's total was 5 miles and it felt GREAT!

Today I started the day out doing 2 miles with The Hub's again. Then after walking the girls to school The Fish and I continued on to Joann Fabrics to pick up some crafty goods, you will see why soon! So that is a total of 4 miles for today.

Weekly Total = 9
2010's Total = 42.5

The wait is over...

2010-04-27T18:01:00.001-07:00

So the other day I posted this sneak peak.....

And no one guessed what it was. Mrs. Wright was the closest saying "Is it a headboard from Knock Off Wood!?!" It IS from Ana over at Knock-Off Wood, but it is far from a headboard, unless you like your outdoor living to come indoors. I have been dying to have my husband build us some furniture for months and months and months, but with his job as an officer in the Navy his work hours never really worked with my plan. That is until a few weeks back when he decided to go and form a clot in the vein under his clavicle. Turns out that clot = blood thinners and blood thinners = limited duty. **Jumps up and down with joy that the hubs WON'T be deloying** Never, ever thought I would say I was glad my husband got a blood clot, well not really glad, but relieved that it means he won't be gone for months on end.

Which leads to my master plan to build tons and tons of new furniture for our home. I brought up the subject right before the clot knowing that we were possibly going to have a few weeks of pre deployment leave to do some things around the house and the hubs was game but a little hesitant. I had to DRAG him to Lowes/Home Depot, no joke, DRAG. Not that the man doesn't love tools, he just loathes shopping...of any kind. He was hesitant to spend a lot of money on a compound miter saw that he wondered how often he would use. That is until I told him that we could spend $600 on a saw, a table for the saw, wood, sand paper, stain and all the supplies for two projects or I could just go out and pay $600 for what one of the two projects would complete (yes it's true I am keeping you in the dark on the second project). The first option leaving us with a saw that we would still use on future projects so it would still be a wise money choice. He was quickly on the same page as me, and I reminded him that yes I do think things out contrary to his beliefs. So after much research and price matching we decided to go with Uncle Bob's advice and get the Ridgid 12' Compound Miter Saw and lets just say I am in LOVE. The Hubs may not realize it yet but I may just get out there and start cutting up things on my own!

So without further ado here is our first project from Ana at Knock-Off Wood!

The Bigger Kids Picnic Table

Hope to have many more furniture projects to show you in the near future. We have the wood for one of those projects out in the garage and after that is build and set up I have plans for at least 3 more projects! If you haven't been to Ana's site yet, I am sorry for your new obsession with building your own furniture...trust me, you will have one.

Sorry to prolong the wait...

2010-04-25T21:40:00.000-07:00

I wasn't aware that stainable wood filler took so long to dry so we have to wait until tomorrow to reveal the project we have been working on. And sorry Mrs. Wright but it isn't one of Ana's headboards, although they are beautiful. Be on the look out for some fun projects to come.

Sorry I have been a little slow the past few weeks I spent 5 days in my hometown and while I was there I lost a family member to the big "C" word. I am still grieving the loss and trying to come to terms with the fact that my step father is gone. He was such a great man who would have done anything for my mother. He was her rock and her strength when she didn't have any left in her. If I ever become ill like my mother did I pray that my husband would treat me the way that he treated my momma. He was amazingly good to her and the definition of unconditional love. It saddens me that he had to fight a losing battle. His battle with cancer has only made me want walk those 60 miles in 3 days even more. Yes it is a walk for breast cancer and yes his cancer was in his bones, but once the cure for breast cancer is found it will only lead to the cure for ALL cancer. Sorry for the ramble I have a lot going on in my little brain these days.

Can't wait to get back in the crafty groove and show off all the projects I have running around in my head!

Breast Cancer 3-Day Training Log

2010-04-25T21:38:00.000-07:00

Today my goal was to get in 5 miles and I decided to be an over achiever! Bentley, the dog, and I took a 3.2 mile walk before dinner and right after dinner I decided to hop on the treadmill for 2.8 more. It was a really refreshing walk/run cross train for the walk and a great way to end a great weekend.

Today's total = 6 miles
Weekly total = 18.8
2010's total = 33.5

Sneak Peek...

2010-04-24T23:14:00.000-07:00

Here's a sneak peek into what Mommie (and Daddy) of 4 Munchkins have been up to. I can't wait to share the full reveal, hopefully tomorrow evening!

Breast Cancer 3-Day Training Log

2010-04-24T23:12:00.000-07:00

Well today I was lazy, well not really lazy...but lazy on the training front. I walked -0- miles :(, but yesterday I did walk the girls home from school so I did get one mile in yesterday. So all was not lost. I did a lot of other stuff today that I will be willing to talk about in a few days, but not yet....

Weekly Total = 12.8

2010's total = 27.5

Here's to hoping I can get in at least 5 mile tomorrow!!!

Breast Cancer 3-Day Training Log

2010-04-22T19:31:00.000-07:00

Today was a great day for training. I was able to sneak on the treadmill for a while and go 2.5 miles, it was nice to do a little running for some cross training! Lippy Lou had a project for Earth Day at school so I walked down with The Fish in the stroller and we planted plants in the garden box under the school sign and then we walked home and I walked back to pick up the girls after leaving The Fish with Ky Guy, total miles for 2 round trips plus a extra little bit for forgetting the camera was 2.3 miles.

Today's total = 4.8 miles

Weekly total = 11.8 miles

2010's total = 26.5 miles (I will so be celebrating every time I hit a 100 mark!)

Breast Cancer 3-Day Training Log

2010-04-21T07:14:00.000-07:00

I now realize that I am not going to be able to keep up with this everyday. With 4 kids, 2 sports, a husband, a dog and a cat I am just having trouble remembering to hop on and let you all know what I have done each day. So my new goal is to get on at least every other day and at the end of each week to keep you updated on my progress. I was able to get in 2 miles on Tuesday and another 2 miles Today. It was hard to sneak them in today as it was raining cats and dogs for the first 4 hours of the day and we had soccer in the evening. I walked to pick up the girls from school and back (1 mile) and after soccer I took the dog out for a walk. On Tuesday I walked the girls to school and then continued on with the dog and The Fish to make a total of 2 miles.

Weekly Total = 7 miles

2010's total = 21.7

Breast Cancer 3-Day Training Log

2010-04-19T19:07:00.000-07:00

This morning my friends and I woke up extra early to get in one last walk together before leaving town to head back home. We got up at 6 am and walked for 3 miles, it was a great way to start my training week and a great way to end a trip full of many different emotions. This weekend I lost another loved one to the terrible C word and it was a bitter sweet trip. My step father lost his fight with bone cancer just hours after I saw him on Friday. I am very grateful that I made it in time to see him and to give him one last hug. I find peace in the fact that he is now able to hug my momma again and that they are able to watch over us all together.

So this year when I walk, I walk not only to fight Breast Cancer but to fight ALL cancer. It is a horrible, ugly, nasty disease that rips apart families and weakens the strongest of men. Frank will be forever missed by my family.

Today's Training Walk - 3.0 miles

This weeks total - 3.0

2010's total - 17.7

(I do realize there was a 3.1 mile jump in here and that is due to the fact that I was out of town and didn't enter a training walk this weekend on Friday evening) ;)

And the winner is.....

2010-04-17T10:15:00.001-07:00

Today's the day to announce the big winner's of the Spud and Chloe Yarn Raffle for a Cure!

The top donor is.....

Amanda Jacobsen who donated $100 to my walk.

And our random draw is

Anne Anderson

Congratulations girls, I will be emailing both of you soon!

Please visit www.spudandchloe.com and let me know what your top choices for color would be so when I go shopping this week to pick up your yarn I have an idea of what you would like. Please let me know if you would like multiples of one color and let me know more than five choices in case our store is out of stock. I will be shopping at Sarah Parker's Wildfibers in Mount Vernon, WA!

A special thank you to everyone who donated to save the tatas, together we raised $200!!

Breast Cancer 3-Day Training Log

2010-04-14T23:28:00.000-07:00

Today I am at my friends house and tomorrow we are traveling together to our hometown to visit friends and family. In order to get some walking in we walked to dinner. Gave me a total of 1 mile today, it wasn't much but it was something.

Today's total = 1 mile

Weekly total = 11.6 miles

Breast Cancer 3-Day Training Log

2010-04-13T21:36:00.000-07:00

Day 3 and I walked 1 mile to my son's school and back for his science fair after almost jumping in the car and driving. And then Ky Guy and I set off to walk the dog together so I could show him how it's done. Bentley, the dog, is still being leash trained so I had to show him how to work with him as I will be going out of town for a few days and need him to step in while I am gone. We got in another 2.2 miles this evening and even got The Fish out in his stroller. It was a great night hanging with the boys!

Today's Total : 3.2

Week 1 Total : 10.6

Breast Cancer 3-Day Training Log

2010-04-12T20:19:00.001-07:00

Today I decided it was time to test out our puppy's ability to walk on a leash with me pushing The Fish in the stroller and we had SUCCESS! We did a 3.2 mile walk this afternoon and this evening Bentley, the pup, and I did another 2.1 miles.

Today's total = 5.3

Weekly total = 7.4

I will be looking for a couple sponsors each week to pledge $1-2 per mile I train, please let me know if you are interested!

Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk Training Log

2010-04-11T22:06:00.001-07:00

Today was the start of my training for the Breast Cancer 3 Day Walk. From now until the actual walk I will be posting each time I walk the amount of miles walked and the total miles accumulated. I am curious to see exactly how many training miles I will complete between now and October.

Today's count.

2.1 miles

Update on the Spud and Chloe Raffle for a Cure

2010-04-11T09:57:00.000-07:00

Just a reminder that I am hosting a Spud and Chloe Yarn Raffle for a Cure. For each $15 donation you will be entered to win 5 skeins of Spud and Chloe sweater weight yarn. The person who donates the most will win 5 skeins of Spud and Chloe Outer. If there is a tie for the most amount donated I will draw a winner for that as well. So far there are only 13 entries so your chances of winning are very good! Each donation not only earns you a chance to win some awesome yarn but it also helps me raise money for a great cause! I will be walking 60 miles in October to raise awareness and funds to help find cure for Breast Cancer!!!

So hop on over to my Breast Cancer 3 Day page and donate for a cure and I will do the hard part.... the 60 mile walk.

Hint, hint...the top donation so far is $100.....

Ultimate Blog Party 2010

2010-04-10T09:13:00.000-07:00

Welcome fellow bloggers! My name is Linsay and I consider myself to be a jack of all trades. I am coming to you from my adorable pink MacBook who seems to be my right hand lately. I am a WAHM of 4 who was offered a job by a fellow classmate while attending college online via University of Phoenix. It has truly been a blessing because not only am I allowed to be home for my kids while working for our family but my job moves with me. Yes I said moves with me, as not only am I a wife, I am a Navy wife. Our family is never in one place for long. Our typical tour is 18 months. So far this works for our family, but I am sure one day we will have to find a duty station where we can semi settle down.

When I am not working for my "real" job I am busy enjoying life with four kids and the hubs, making binky leashes etc. for my online store, knitting for my friends and family, training and raising funds for The Breast Cancer 3 Day, sewing straight lines, making wreaths, building furniture, and occasionally I get some sleep in there.

My best friend and I also share a blog, Nip Cancer Girls, where we feature other Etsy sellers and friends who have donated items to our Etsy shop where 100% of our the sale price of our items is donated back to our Breast Cancer 3 Day. Our shop is centered around all things PINK! If you love to create and would like to donate please let me know! If you have a chance check out my Yarn Raffle for a Cure, ends April 16th.

If you haven't been over to the Ultimate Blog Party 2010 you should check out it. There are so many great prize to be had! My top three are...

$200 GC to Apple.com from CMomGo

Your Shape Wii Fitness Game from Kristie's List

$100 GC from StomperMom

Chore Charts - WFMW

2010-04-07T12:32:00.000-07:00

Last year I made up chore cards and while they worked for a while some got lost and interest got lost as well so I decided it was time to change it up. And here is the new system I came up with.

(click to enlarge)

I got this adorable 16X20 inch frame at Michael's on clearance about 6 months ago with this idea in mind, but just last week had the time to put my idea into action. I then took a 12X12 pad of scrapbook paper and cut four coordinating pieces each 8X10 inches in size and taped to the "picture people" picture that was already in there. Then I printed out each chart made in excel for each child with their list of chores for the week and one blank calendar sheet for the 4th box as The Fish isn't old enough to do a chart with chores yet. I also cut our the names and the word "calendar" on my Cricut to add to top of each chart. I used the opposite paper scraps to do this so they would all match. Once it was all stuck down I put it behind the glass and had the hubs hang it in the pantry for easy access. The calendar is completely blank under the glass and I use a dry erase pen to fill in the month and dates and things like soccer, gymnastics, dr appts etc. But having a chart on the wall in the pantry has never quite fully worked for us either so I went one step further and made these...

(click to enlarge)

Each morning I put down the Morning/After School charts and as they do each item they mark them off and are on their way. They remain on the counter for after school as well. Then around dinner time I get out the evening sheets for them to get started on as well. We started these on Sunday and so far they are working great. We haven't been late getting out the door one day this week which is AMAZING! They are notorious for forgetting to do something making us a few minutes late going out the door. Ky Guy, the 12 yo, even mentioned that he likes that it says "pick up bedroom" because now he has just a little to do everyday and it doesn't get out of control. I have noticed this is working well for the girls too.

Each of these were printed on white card stock and tapped to scrapbook paper that coordinates with the chart in the pantry. Once they were all put together I laminated them so we could use the dry erase pens on them as well. What the kids don't know is that at the end of the week if they have at least all but one thing marked off for each day of the week they will be getting to choose something from a list of goodies that they can have for doing a great job. Each week the list will change. I plan on putting things like 1 hour of Wii time, paint nails with mom, go to ice cream with mom or dad, board games with mom or dad, etc on that list.

And that my friends WORKS FOR ME!

Tie Dyeing Easter Eggs

2010-04-01T22:06:00.000-07:00

So when I came across the post on Our Best Bites for dyeing Easter eggs with men's ties I knew we would be trying it out this year and I. AM. IN. LOVE. I don't think we will ever dye eggs any other way again.

A couple of days ago the kids and I went to Value Village and Goodwill to check out their supply of silk ties and here is what we found.

Then we called over some friends to come help us out!

And then we wrapped each egg first in a piece of silk tie and then in a piece of one of my husband's old shirts. I do not recommend using an old shirt of your husbands if he works on a ship and sweats a lot...lets just say my house didn't smell very pleasant after boiling those puppies...yeah YUCK!

Put them all in a pot with 1/4th cup of vinegar, brought to a boil and set a timer for 20 minutes.

We put ours in a strainer after they were done and ran cold water over them to cool them down a bit and unwrapped them and here is what we came out with.

And because we didn't have enough ties to cover all of our eggs on the first go around we used the ties a second time and it changed the dynamics a little. As you can tell in this picture the egg on the right was lighter and the one on the left was darker. The one on the left is from the second go around.

And in these two photos the eggs on the right are from the second go around and the ones on the left are from the first. I am tempted to boil the ties next year before I put them on eggs just to see if we always get darker more vibrant results.

And my all time favorite.....

And so if you have not tried this, you should and NOW. Like I said before I don't think I will ever go back to dyeing eggs any other way.

And for the record "they" suggest you don't eat these eggs. I am not sure why but everything I have read says not to eat them.

Easter Wreath Revisited

2010-04-01T21:30:00.000-07:00

About 3 weeks ago a friend of mine sent me into Winco to buy her some bulk spice drops for a project she was working on and I came across the most beautiful Jordan Almonds ever. I couldn't resist making a new Easter wreath since the one I made last year faded. This year I decided to spray the new one down with clear coat so I am hoping it stays beautiful for years to come because I just love it. I also think I will leave it up as a "Spring" wreath so I can enjoy it a few weeks longer.

Mini and Not so Mini Reversible Duck to Bunny

2010-03-23T13:29:00.000-07:00

When I first saw the Mini Reversible Duck to Bunny on a forum on Ravelry I knew I just had to knit it up and quickly. So I waited not so patiently for Susan B. Anderson to post it on the Spud and Chloe blog. And here is the results I got.

Spud and Chloe yarn happens to be one of my absolute favorites which is why I am raffling off 10 skeins to raise funds for my Breast Cancer 3 Day Walk. I want to share the squishy love!

Who can resist these adorable faces!

Mini

(Knit in Spud and Chloe Sweater Weight)

Not so Mini

(Knit in Spud and Chloe Outer)

These were both an absolute breeze to knit up and the kids adore them. The Fish keeps asking for which ever one is hidden and loves to play the game of hide and seek with our new little friends. The girls both adore them and keep asking if they each get one of their own. My bestie has even put in her request for a mini, and I am wondering if I should hide this post from her because I have a feeling she will be asking for a not so mini too! Tomorrow we go on a 2 hr car ride, I have a feeling I will be whipping her's up on the way.

If you have any questions on how I adjust for the not so mini please let me know, it was super simple to do.

Spud and Chloe Yarn Raffle for a Cure

2010-03-18T08:07:00.000-07:00

From now until April 16th I will be hosting a raffle for Spud and Chloe yarns in order to raise funds for my Breast Cancer 3 Day walk. The winners, yes I said winners, of the raffle will win 5 skeins each of the wonderfully smooshy Spud and Chloe yarn. The person who makes the largest donation will receive 5 skeins of outer and then one other random donor will receive 5 skeins of sweater. If on the off chance that 2 or more people tie for the largest donation there will be a drawing between those folks as well. The minimum donation to qualify for the raffle is $15. For every $15 you donate you get one chance to win. I will be keeping a running spreadsheet of donations and will select a winner via random number generator on April 17th. Each prize is worth $55+

UPDATE: 14 Entries at last count with top donor of $100. (4/14/10)

Donations can be made by going to my Breast Cancer 3 Day website.

Please remember that all donation are tax deductible and are going to a great cause. If you have any questions please feel free to let me know and pass the word on to all your knitty friends.

40 in 40 update

2010-03-10T13:59:00.000-08:00

It's me again and I am here to update my progress in the 40 bags in 40 days Challenge.

Day #14

Today I cleaned out the entertainment center where we keep the Wii games and decided that we didn't need the huge plastic containers game are kept in and moved all the games to a CD case, I did this for our CD's/DVD's years ago but figured the games could be kept the same way. I did not however touch Paul's PS games because that is his deal and I don't go messing with that!

Day #15

Today Ky Guy and I went through his closet and a bookshelf and got a bag of stuff to go to goodwill as well as a bag of books to be donated. He had an old sleeping bag that probably goes up to his waist, shoes that he has long outgrown (he now fits in the hubs' shoes), some pants and coats too. Donating books is always hard for me and I don't know why, I guess I see all the memories in them and I just hate to give them away, but in my quest to purge I am trying to think of all the memories they will bring others! In the past I would have just given the books to a younger sibling but their shelves need to be gone through as well so we just donated them this time.

Day #16

Today I helped the girls go through their closet and let me tell you that is not an easy task. Their book shelve are in there and the rule in this house is one book at a time, and so far it is NEVER followed...I need to get on the ball and make shelf markers so that they can put them in when they take out a book so they know where to put it back when they are done, because I am also anal about how bookshelves are kept, I just wish some of my analness would rub off on my children in this area. So the girls and I went through their books and donated MANY, they decided they were a little too old for Dora and Care Bears which makes me sad. At least we were able to cut way back and their shelves don't look as though they are going to fall due to weight. We also found a few extra backpacks in their closet in which we donated as well.

Day #17

The girls and I continued working on their closet and found some coats and a huge bag of trash to throw out. I don't know how they can store so much crap in their room, it is just absurd. I try to trust that they are cleaning their rooms when they say they are but I guess I need to go check more often.

Day #18

Today I sat in my room talking to the hubs while he cleaned out his dresser/closet and donated a huge bag of clothes. He also was able to clean out a bunch of junk that needed recycled or thrown away. So he made great progress and we were able to get rid of 2 more bags (well one was a box) today!

Day #19

Today was the day it took 2.5 hrs to clean my hardwood floors, so no bags today.

Day #20

Today I didn't make any progress on bags due to the fact that I had a full day at work, a dr. appt and Ky had a double dual for wrestling meaning we didn't get home til late. But because I am way head on the bag count I figured I could skip one day!

Day #21

Today I finally conquered the filing cabinet. I HATE paper, with a passion. I don't like dealing with all of the mail that comes on a daily basis, it sucks. I try to do it before I even come in the house but it doesn't always happen when you have a 2 yr old in one hand, a purse on the shoulder and grocery bags hanging everywhere. So paper piles up and is soon overtaking my desk, so in a rush to make the desk look descent I was throwing the extra papers in the back of the 1/2 empty filing cabinet drawer, yeah bad me. So the first picture shows what I pulled out and the next two pictures are what I able to recycle and give away. The smaller bag is just magazines that I will be once again donating to Lippy Lou's teacher. After getting that top drawer cleaned up I went through the remaining drawers and sorted them out too. It feels nice to have that organized as well!

40 in 40 total climbs to 29

And like I had guessed in the beginning it is getting harder and harder to find places to get bags from. I think tomorrow I shall tackle my yarn stash *cringe*

Today's Goal....

2010-03-08T13:27:00.000-08:00

Today's goal was to clean the hardwood floors.

On the way to get started I had to use the bathroom and noticed it was dirty.

So I cleaned it.

On the way to get started I noticed that the front of the appliances were dirty.

So I cleaned them.

On the way to get started I noticed the grate on the front of the fridge was dirty.

So I took it off and cleaned it.

At which time I noticed under the fridge was dirty.

So I cleaned it.

At which time I thought that under the stove looked the same.

So I cleaned it.

On the way to start the floors I saw how dirty the cupboards were.

So I cleaned them.

On the way to start the floors I noticed that the rug needed washed.

So I started a load of laundry.

And was finally able to start the floors.

And I got the kitchen done.

On the way to start the dining room I noticed a dirty table.

So I cleaned it.

Again on the way to start the dining room I noticed the dirty chairs.

So I cleaned them.

In the middle of the dining room floors I smelled a poopy diaper.

So I changed it.

While continuing on the dining room floors I heard the washing machine beep.

So I changed the laundry over.

And then I finally finished the hardwood floors....2.5 hrs later.

And my husband thinks I don't WORK.

There are often days I wish I had a 40 hr a week job that took me out of the house so no one was home to make a mess, that is until I look into those 2 year old eyes and realize how lucky I am. I am truly blessed to have a WAH job where I can enjoy my kids to the fullest. Days like today make it hard to see just how blessed I am, until I take a few moments to sit back and think and I realize it is all worth it in the end. Because someday I am going to miss this.

40 in 40 Update

2010-03-02T21:12:00.000-08:00

Well so far so good with the decraptifying and getting rid of 40 bags of "stuff" in 40 days. I am feeling great about the purge and getting this house in order before we are packed up and moved to a location that aren't sure of just yet. **Please be Hawaii, Please be Hawaii**

Day #6

Today I cleaned out all of the "someday" magazines and took them to Lippy Lou's teacher as she said she could alway use them for projects in class this year and beyond. I am starting to realize if I keep saving things for someday then someday I am going to end up on a show called Horders.... so here's to NOT being on that show!!

Day #7

On day seven I cleaned out my bathroom cabinet and got rid of more someday crap. It was great to throw out all those things I thought I might use someday that have been traveling from house to house with us for way too many years!!

Day #8

I moved on to the kids bathroom for day eight and got another huge bag of stuff to throw out and it felt equally as good as day seven!

Day #9

Today I dove into my desk in my craft room and threw out all of the stuff that had been sitting under there for years and years and years because I just didn't think it was quite time to part with it. But in all reality it was just bringing me down. So I once again purged and freed myself!

Day #10

Today I started cleaning out my dresser and ridding myself of drawers that I could barely shut and for no other reason than the fact that I didn't want to clean it out. So I got a huge bag the first day and was even able to start on a second.

Day #11

I continued to work on my dresser and even moved into my closet on day 11 and was able to purge even more crap. I plan on purging 30-40 lbs in the next year and will reward myself with new clothes when I do!

Day #12

On day 12 I continued work in my room and was able to finally unpack the last of the boxes from the Big Move of 2009, yes one year ago this week we moved into this house and I JUST NOW unpacked the last of my boxes that were hiding in my closet. I got one box/bag of donation items from this purge and one bag of trash. YAY for unpacking in a year *rolls eyes*

And Today Day, Day #13

Today I cleaned out the entertainment system in the family room and was able to purge 3 bags of movies/books. I drove them over to the donation center today before picking up the girls from school and it felt GREAT!

Grand Total : 18 BAGS!

Almost 1/2 way there and feeling great!

Crossing the Finish Line...Ravelympics Style

2010-02-22T17:42:00.000-08:00

After hearing about the Ravelympics on Ravelry, a forum for knitters and crocheters I decided I wanted to join in on the fun. Each knitter or crocheter joins a team and enters a project in a ravelympic event. It is suggested that you choose something that i challenging to you or has a new stitch you have never tried. I have had the yarn and pattern for the Kid's Top Down Raglan Sweater for a few months now and decided it was the perfect chance to get it done. It isn't often I start a large project like this and actually finish it in a timely manner so I am so excited that today I crossed the finished line!! There were a few times that I ran into issues like not understanding the first part of the pattern and having to frog it three times before getting it right. And then getting really far only to realize that I had forgotten the stripes and having to frog 16 rows to add them in. But after that things went very smoothly. It ended up a little snug around the neck and I may redo it later but for right now it is DONE! I did notice after I was through 2 skeins of the Knit Pick's Shine in Sailor that was going to run out so when I went to www.knitpicks.com to purchase more and saw that they were sold out I started to freak out a little bit. Thank heavens for Raveler's who "stash" their yarn. I was able to find someone on there with it in there stash that was willing to sell me 2 of her skeins so I could finish before closing ceremonies. YAY for generous Raveler's. So without further ado.....

40 in 40 update

2010-02-21T18:56:00.000-08:00

Day #3

On day 3 we cleaned out The Fish's dresser and filled up an entire garbage bag with his clothes that no longer fit. I also gave away a hook on highchair that he hasn't needed for about a year to a family friend. It was great to go through his drawers so his siblings no longer bring down clothes that don't fit when I ask them to bring something down for him to wear. And luckily I always stock on when I find clearance so I was able to fill his drawers back up with stuff that fits.

Day #4

Day four the plan was just to do Lippy Lou's dresser but I was on a roll and did Lynner's dresser also. We were able to fill a garbage bag with donations and a second smaller bag with clothes that were too well loved to give away.

Day #5

Today I tackled Ky Guy's dresser and the poor thing was left with less than 3 drawers full by the time we were done. He has grown out of so many things that he was down to the bare minimum. So when I saw that Fred Meyer was having 70% off their clearance prices this week I took him shopping today to put some clothes in those drawers that he can actually wear. It was kinda sad bringing stuff back into the house when I am trying to decraptify but he so badly needed clothes that fit. Not to mention I saved about 3X what I actually spent. I got some killer deals....like $75 shoes for $20. Gotta love clearance.

And the Winner is.....

2010-02-21T18:51:00.000-08:00

By random number generator....

TyLeen said...
"Ok, now that I have seen the sight, I love the mod flower hair bow. So cute! It was really had to narrow it down because I love them all! I love hair bows!"

Congrats TyLeen, I have given Darling your information and she should be contacting you soon!

Bag #2 of 40 and Other Randomness

2010-02-18T17:42:00.000-08:00

Day 2

Today we cleaned out The Fish's toy box because it hasn't been cleaned out since he was born and with his 3rd birthday rapidly approaching I figured he didn't need teethers anymore.

I also recovered the chair in my office/sewing area because the kids spilled on it and then The Fish decided to draw on it with a ball point pen. I think I should have done this from the beginning because I love the new look so much. If you like the chair and the look I got mine at IKEA for around $20.

I have been working on this adorable sweater for the Ravelympics (check out www.Ravelry.com if you are a knitter/crocheter, it's a great site)

Thankfully I was also able to get a lot of housework done today. I can't wait to put my munchkins in bed and just relax tonight though, I am beat!

Semi-Monthly Menu

2010-02-18T09:42:00.000-08:00

So today I am preparing for my twice monthly grocery shopping trip and thought I would share what we will be having for the last 10 days of this month. Gotta love the short month when it comes to the grocery bill. You will notice that a lot of meals on this menu will be the same as on the last menu because I tend to double up and freeze stuff to save time and money.

Meatloaf with Mashed Potatoes and Peas

Pork Fried Rice

Tri-tip with Asparagus and Baked Potatoes

Mexican Chicken Soup

Left Overs

Pork Tenderloin with Risotto and Steamed Veggies

Italian Bean Soup

Homemade Pizza

Spaghetti

Sloppy Joes

Sorry it is short and concise this period I just know that sometimes I love seeing what others are eating so I can have new ideas for my next menu. I promise that the next one will be changed up a bit! I am off to put my list in Grocery IQ!

40 Bags in 40 Days My Journey to Decraptify My House

2010-02-17T14:27:00.000-08:00

Gillian over at Mrs. Wright Gone Wrong blogged about the 40 Bags in 40 Days challenge and even though I don't normally give anything up for the Lent I figured this was a great way to prepare my house for The Big Move of 2010. So today I begin the journey to de-clutter my house before we move to our new house in a location that has yet to be determined by the military. We should find out where we are going soon after this challenge ends, so it will be a great way to keep my mind off the wait as well.

Each day I will blog about my bag and take a picture, mostly to make sure that I actually fill one and get rid of it. Today I cleaned out the cabinet the TV in the family room sits on and I had to move to the end table in there to completely fill the bag. Not only is a bag full but the cabinet is also straightened up and dusted. So my guess is not only will this help me de-clutter but clean along the way.

Bag #1

As you can tell this was a small bag, the challenge states that you can use a bag in any size and I figured I will use all different size in this journey. Like this weekend when I hit the girls bedroom the bags may just be BLACK and LARGE! So are you up for the challenge????

Shamrock Wreath

2010-02-12T17:19:00.000-08:00

So after seeing the Heart Wreath Tutorial on The Idea Room's Blog and finding smaller hearts at my local craft store I just knew what I had to do. So over 550 green circles later I have an adorable Shamrock Wreath that will put any neighbor's door to shame. So lets get started with the tutorial.

First I purchased four 8" styrofoam heart forms from my local craft store. They can be found online HERE, these are 9" but will work just the same.

Next I had to trim the hearts to make them fit together. I used a serrated knife to cut them and it worked great.

Then I lined up the other hearts to make sure they were cut at the same angle and cut the one below it using the above as a guide.

Next, after trying several times to glue them together with E6000 I had an epiphany and decided that painters tape would work much better and I was right! So tape them together and you are ready for the next step.

I used the bottom of a pint glass as my guide for drawing the circles. I used smaller circles than in he heart wreath because I wanted the inside of the hearts to show.

Fold each circle in half.

And then in half again, and pin them as show in the Heart Wreath Tutorial.

Wishful thinking....was that this bucket full of 250 circles would be enough to complete the wreath. I ended up having to draw, cut and pin over 550. I stopped counting when I got this high.

And here it is, the fruit of my labor! I added a stem just for cuteness factor. I drew it out on felt, cut two pieces, sewed them together, turned them rightside out, stuffed it and pinned it to the back of the wreath.

So the GOOD NEWS is that I will be auctioning off this very wreath to one of my blog readers to raise funds for my Breast Cancer 3 Day Walk. Each walker is required to raise $2300 in order to participate and I thought this would be a fun way to raise some funds. Be on the look out for auction information soon!

I also shared this on Creations by Kara, you should check it out, there are lots of fun projects on there.

Knit Puppets for The Fish

2010-02-11T19:29:00.000-08:00

Recently we discovered The Fish's love of puppets. I was telling the Speech Therapist about this new found love and she was very excited. She told me about how puppets can help with language development and what a great tool they would be in his learning process. With this knowledge I set out to find some knitting patterns I could use to make him some puppets for Valentine's Day. I found the Froggy Bath Puppet and the Silly Snake Bath Puppet. Although they are intended for use in the bath tub I figured we could use them out of the bath. I also adapted the pattern to make a third one for the little cutie. I also have a few new designs swimming in my head that I may just publish in the near future.

Introducing Froggy

Introducing Wormy

Introducing Slithers

I can't wait to see how he likes them. They each took about an hour to knit up and turned about perfect. Lippy Lou was my gracious hand model, she thinks they will be fun to play with too!

My First Giveaway!!!!!! Closed*

2010-02-09T10:46:00.000-08:00

Comes to from my friend Jessica at

She has offered to give away a set of 4 of her perfect Small Hairbows pictured below.

Jessica's bows are handmade with great attention to detail. Each bow is cut and made to order and perfect in every way. Her bows are made to accessorize your daughter's beautiful face, not distract from it like some other bows you find out there.

Here is Lippy Lou sporting one of these adorable bows!

So here's how you enter.

1. Please visit Jim Dear and Darling Designs on Etsy and come back here and post a comment with your favorite item in her store.

2. Follow my blog and Jessica's publicly by clicking the "follow" button on the right (you will have to sneak over to her blog too by clicking her name).

3. Follow both Jessica and I on twitter @momof4munchkins and @jessicaboehle

4. Send out a tweet about this giveaway and come back here and comment with a link!

5. Blog about this giveaway and post a link back here in the comments.

6. Purchase an item from Jim Dear and Darling Designs and come back here and let me know you have done so!

Please leave one comment per entry. The giveaway will close on February 20th at midnight EST. Good Luck to All!!

Mini Ironing Board and Sweet Knit Headband

2010-02-05T16:12:00.000-08:00

So yes I know these two things have nothing to do with each other but I finished them and I wanted to show them off. My BFF found this awesome tutorial on how to turn a fold tray table into a mini ironing board perfect for pressing seams while sewing. I decided to take her advice about putting holes in the tray table before beginning and asked my hubby to do that for me, so he did. He has been asking for "manly" jobs around the house so he actually jumped at the chance to use a power tool. My BFF also read through the comments and saw where someone said using Insul-Brite would help too and since I had some laying around I went ahead and did that too. It was a quick and easy project and will be perfect for all the sewing I am wanting to do!

I also stumbled across the opportunity to test knit this adorable Spring Baby Headband on Ravelry. The author of the pattern is Ravelry member aammyy, the flower that she suggested is by Susan B. Anderson and can be found here. The pattern can be found on her blog Knitwity. This headband is up for sale in my Etsy Store, NipCancerGirls. 100% of the proceeds will be donated to my Breast Cancer 3 Day Walk.

Valentine's Day Wreath

2010-02-03T07:14:00.000-08:00

I was so excited when I saw this adorable tutorial at The Idea Room that I just had to make one for myself. I called 5 different Joann stores within a 25 mile radius, none of which carried the heart shaped form, but finally found one at a very small local craft store. I was giddy with excitement! So here is my rendition of the wreath, I am so loving it hanging on my front door!

Notes: I used approximately 260 circles I cut out of felt. I used a pint glass to draw the circles on with a sharpie and just cut around the inside edge to remove the ink.

I am also joining in on the fun with Kara at Creations by Kara for Look What I Made! Day, check it out and link up your own projects!

Here Piggy, Piggy

2010-02-02T13:18:00.000-08:00

Mr. Piggy is finally finished. I actually finished him up Sunday night but didn't have the right light to take good pics so I had to wait til Monday to do those and today I am here to show him off. I think he turned out absolutely adorable. Soon and VERY soon he will be ready for auction, just trying to figure out the best way to do so in order to raise the most amount of money for the Breast Cancer 3 Day. If you have any ideas please leave them in the comments. Til then, here are some pictures of the cute little guy.

I just couldn't resist his adorable little curly-q tail!

I found this pattern in Susan B. Anderson's Itty-Bitty Toys book, her work is just amazing!

Not Me! Monday

2010-02-01T08:00:00.001-08:00

I did not repeatedly tickle my husband in the middle of the night to get him to stop snoring and when that didn't work I most certainly did NOT kick him a few times to get him to stop only to have him start up again a few minutes later. Which means I most certainly did not sleep way past the time I normally get up on Monday mornings only to get up and start work later than usual.

I also did not buy new fabric this weekend with no project in mind just because I am in LOVE with the new Riley Blake Wheels line. Nope not me I NEVER buy fabric when I don't have a project in mind.

So what did you NOT do this week? Hop on over to MckMama's Blog and link yourself up and share what you would never do as well as read what everyone else has not been up to.

Grocery IQ Review

2010-01-31T18:50:00.000-08:00

So yesterday I finally put my grocery shopping list on the Grocery IQ app on my iPhone to take shopping with me and now I am kicking myself for waiting so damn long. I have had it on my phone since the day I got it, almost a year ago, and on my iTouch before then. Silly me just never took the time to actually use it. Boy am I glad I did. It did take quite a bit of time to get the list entered yesterday and the hubs was making fun of me for taking longer to get ready to go to the store than it would take to actually do the shopping, but it was great once I got to the store. I also used the coupon options to print coupons to my wireless printer, no wireless printer?? No worries you can simply email them to yourself and print from your computer.

I used the scan option to put in a few groceries that we buy often and still had the packages for currently in the house, what a GREAT feature. It was quick and easy to use and found everything I scanned in the pantry. There were a couple of items that I had a hard time finding, like the Red Bell Pepper, I didn't realize that I had to go to Pepper and find the variety in the list. I was also a tad confused with the weight vs. package option as I thought I could put in 28 oz in weight, which is only in pounds, but there is an option to change the package size under canned, bagged and boxed items. Now that I know this it will be easier to change things next time I go shopping! And because I have no added a ton of stuff to my favorites, entering them in next time will be much faster, although I am hoping they soon add a "search" option to the favorites section.

I loved how I was able to make two separate lists, one for Costco and one for the Commissary (military grocery store). When I was unable to find something at Costco I was able to quickly move it from one list to the other, as I went to Costco first and then headed to the Commissary to finish up. I also loved the fact that as I checked things off my list they moved to the bottom of the page so I didn't have to scroll through them when seeing what else I needed to shop for.

All in all shopping with Grocery IQ rather than a paper an pen list was a great experience. I still need to learn how to move the aisles around to match my store, but I figured I would save that for my next shopping trip. Looking forward to using this program over and over and over again.

Thank you GROCERY IQ!!!!!! You can find it HERE for only 99 cents!!

Menus and Shopping Lists

2010-01-30T11:13:00.000-08:00

I may not have talked about this on my blog before but every pay period I write a menu for the 14-16 days until the next payday, write my grocery list up and head to the store. I do this because it saves me time and it saves my family a lot of money. Not only does it help me to not want to go out to eat every other day but it prevents me from making small grocery trips that end with a $50-$80 bill. So my goal from now on is to share my menu with my blogger friends! The menu is totally flexible although I do try to use the meals with fresh produce in them first for obvious reasons. So for the next two weeks we will be having:

Spicy Tangerine Beef - Weight Watchers in 20 Minutes Cookbook
Olive Gardens Chicken Gnocchi Soup - www.recipezarr.com
Homemade Pizza - www.ourbestbites.com
Italian Bean Soup - Weight Watchers All Time Favorites Cookbook
Mexican Chicken Soup - My friend Kelly shared this with me
Hunan Chicken - Weight Watchers All Time Favorites Cookbook
Tacos
Leftovers
Sweet and Sour Pineapple chicken - Weight Watchers in 20 minutes Cookbook
Spaghetti
Steak with Asparagus and Pea Risotto - Weight Watchers All Time Favorites Cookbook
Sloppy Joes - Weight Watchers All Time Favorites Cookbook
BBQ Pork Sammies - Weight Watchers All Time Favorites Cookbook - with Baked Beans
Leftovers
Meat Loaf - Weight Watchers All Time Favorites Cookbook - with mashed potatoes

You may notice a weight watchers theme here, it's because yes I am trying to lose weight. I am down 10.7 lbs in just 30 days. I have 30 more lbs to go so until then the whole family will be eating meals that I can count points for. In the past I have cooked for the family and eaten a frozen dinner myself. This works for a period of time and I eventually fall off the wagon and gain most if not all the weight back. So this time I am trying to change how we eat as a family and learn about portion control as well as counting my points. I hope and pray this time I can take it off and keep it off.

Right now I am off to put my grocery list in my iphone using Grocery IQ so I can head to the grocery store and get my shopping done!! If you have an iphone and have never seen the app you should check it out.

Leave comments if you would also like to start seeing my grocery lists ;) If I have enough interest I will start writing those up as well. Heck I can probably even email it to myself from Grocery IQ and copy/paste it here ;)