My new shelf

I finally finished and hung my new shelf! Yay! I had some little shelves up in this space next to my fireplace, but the look was just not what I wanted. So, I moved them and made a new shelf inspired by the many bloggers that made these Ballard Designs knock-off shelves. This link goes to a superb tutorial by Traci at Beneath My Heart blog. I did everything almost exactly as she did, only I used liquid nails to glue everything together instead of real nails. I went as cheap as possible and here's how mine came out for less than $20:


Of course, I forgot to take pictures along the way, but here is the explanation. I got two shelf brackets from Ikea. They were less than $5 each. Then I got a board at home depot, just a cheap pine board that was 10" wide, and they cut it for me into two 2 ft. long pieces. (I was going to make 2 shelves, but one is all that fits here. I'll save the other for later.)
Then I bought a length of moulding and since this was pre-birthday, I went across the street and used my neighbor's miter saw to cut it down to go around the edge of the board for a nice finished look. I glued the trim on a piece at a time to give each piece time to really set and stick on. (I waited a day or two between each piece.)
Then, I glued the shelf onto the brackets with liquid nails.
Next I painted the shelf with some paint and a brush I had. This experience confirms my love for spray paint, I tell ya. I would much have rather sprayed it, but I didn't have any on hand. From a distance it looks good anyway, so I'm over it. :)


I know this was under $20, but since I bought each piece of it over several months I can't remember exactly how much it cost. I would guess it was even under $15. I love it soooo much! Let's hear it for DIY!

11 months

Our little Tail Gunner is 11 months old (on my bday). I can't believe he only has one more month before his first birthday!!! He has 6 teeth (4 top and 2 bottom), loves pushing this one big car we have around the floor, weighs around 16 pounds, has the most ADORABLE red hair, crawls like a flash-especially when trying to get outside, LOVES being outside, cries when he comes in from being outside, jabbers so sweetly all the time (oh, how I love baby jabber! it's so cute), and loves playing with his brother and sisters. It's so funny to watch him come alive when they are around and he gets as silly as they are. I sure love this little man! He makes me smile everyday. He is just a sweet little thing and is getting smarter everyday as things sink into that brain of his. I can see the wheels turning in his mind, and it's delightful! TG makes me a happy mama and I can't imagine life without him. Love you, baby boy!!

Hello 35!

The tablescape above includes scrapbook paper placemats, dollar store "wine" glasses, Little Miss made place cards, and a lovely pineapple centerpiece. It's my attempt to be a little "fancy". :)

So, Thursday was my birfday. I left 34 in the dust behind me and welcomed 35. Oh, yeah baby!!! It was a GREAT day!

Here's what I did all day: I was roused out of bed by my family singing Happy Birthday (our tradition), and was presented some Home Depot money - YES!!! and a drawing of myself made by Little Miss. I admired my birthday pedicure that I gave myself a couple days ago (zebra print-love it!), and made the morning driving rounds.

Got home and made cupcakes from a recipe out of the Clean Eating book (most of us liked them, but they were "different" lol), cleaned up the house a little bit, read up on blogs a bit, then I took the boys and went out to Joe's Farm Grill for my free birthday lunch. Actually, we stopped at Chick-fil-a and got a free lunch for Dr. D with a coupon I had first so that we could eat free food together. On the way home I stopped by Joe's BBQ for my other free birthday meal, which I saved to eat yesterday. Those are two of my favorite places to eat; thanks for having free food, Joe's!! I ended up paying less than $2 for the BEST food. Love that!

Then we came home and when Little Miss got home from school, we took a trip to the scrapbook store for some cute paper (to use as placemats), came home and finished setting up for dinner and made my favorite salad. My mom called sometime during this, and said my present was outside. I went to look...and it was what i have been wanting for a long time now........a MITER SAW!!!!!! Turns out my ex-step-dad got it for some specific projects and was done with it. When she told him I really wanted one, he said I could have it. I AM SO HAPPY!!!! Anyway, my mom came and cooked dinner for me- we had shrimp scampi over noodles and my spinach salad. For dessert we had the cupcakes with some lemon frozen yogurt (NOT clean eating at all, but I let it go for my bday). I LOVE LEMON. Then...it was time for more presents! Cool! :)

(don't you love my mom in the background? That's typical her. Cracks me up!:)

Naunee came over for dinner, so I opened her present first. She always wraps divinely and it's a shame to spoil her good work by opening such loveliness. But, what's a birthday girl to do? hehe She gave me a big pot that I have been in desperate need of. I was borrowing from two of my neighbors for the past year now. Not any more! I got my own pot. Woohoo! :)

The kids gave me all kinds of treasures from the dollar store: a super cute little tote bag, silicone spatula, some hair clips, glass marbles, paint brushes and such. My visiting teachers also dropped over a card with a little surprise in it. They are such sweeties!!!

That pretty much sums up the day. Of course, it aint' over yet. I believe in celebrating for as long as possible. So, last night DH and went out on a celebration date (treated by some dear family--THANK YOU so much!!), then today Naunee and I will have our yearly traditional outing to Cheesecake Factory (another favorite place). I will have a slice of Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake. Again, totally 100% NOT clean eating, but it's a birthday thing. That's how I roll. ;)

So, I basically got everything I wanted and am once again a spoiled little thing but, oh well. Just feelin' the love, right? :) Thank you, thank you to everyone who sent me good wishes and made my day special for me. Come on 35--give me what you got!!

Makin' Butta

Yesterday I made a couple of yummy things I thought I'd share. First off, this lovely butter.

It was pretty difficult. Pour cream into blender. Turn on. When it clumps up, squeeze it together and try to get most of the liquid out. Rinse in cold water a couple of times so you can keep it cool and see if you are getting the liquid out. Put in bowl. Eat.
I have to note, that although it was that easy, the first time I tried making it didn't work out. My blender got too hot, I think. I'm not sure what was different this time. When I felt my blender start to get warm I put it in the frig for a while to cool it off. Then turned it back on and...Voila! Butter! Another note, I use raw milk so this butter is made from cream straight from the cow. Cool!
Here's the other treat we made that is sooooooooooo good! Seriously! I got the recipe from my cousin Jen's blog. She is one sweetie of a cousin and just had her tenth baby to boot! Check her out. Anyway, I was a little wary of the soy sauce in this smoothie, but I'm telling you--DON'T leave it out. It DOES bring out the chocolate flavor. This is the perfect after dinner treat in my house because we all love chocolate and are trying to cut the sugar and add more veggies. Give it a try. YUMMY!!!


Little Miss giving it a sip.

The moustache of approval!

Spring Green Chocolate Shake
Ingredients:

2 cups almond or cow's milk
3 cups spring greens
2 ripe bananas
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1/4 cup honey or agave nectar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 cups ice

Directions:

Blend all ingredients in a blender.

**My notes on this recipe. You can go a little less on the chocolate, especially if you are using dark chocolate powder. You can also go a little less on the honey. I like using frozen bananas for a thicker version. TRY IT!!

Doll in the hospital

I HAD to take a picture of this set up:


This is Blondie's doll Mallary. She obviously had a rough time and ended up in the "hospital". Luckily she is being taken very good care of. She has an oxygen mask (oh, it's actually her anesthesia I'm told), an IV, and a heart monitor. And I love the hospital gown! I never played like this. Do your kids play like this? I think kids these days have more imagination than we had back in my day. I know mine have waaaay more than I ever did! I love it!!

New stools

I had some barstools at my counter that I got at Walmart for cheap. They were the really cheap round top, no back type. Well, I felt they were ok for adults but with all the little people around here, the last thing I wanted was someone falling off a stool and busting their head open. I kept my eyes open on Craigslist because my budget was...well, as low as possible. I found this set of four stools for $25--TOTAL! Yes, I know they are all southwestern-y looking, and they were too tall, but they were very sturdy and I knew they would do well with a face lift. And-how could I pass up 25 bucks for 4 STOOLS?? They were actually stools from Sears when they had a cosmetic counter. I love stuff that has a story.

Stools before:


Stools after:


I just cut the legs off at the bottom to the right height, spray painted the wood, and put some plastic thingys on the bottom so they don't scratch the floor. I have plans for the vinyl seats, but now that the wood is black the color doesn't bother me so much anymore. That can wait. I have more projects to work on...

I locked my kids OUT

This little baby~



Is one of the best things I've ever done in my mothering career. I have never really needed one before, but with this cute little one around~


They have become necessary. I've installed one on the door to the closet in the little kid's room Yes, they cannot use their own closet. Some of their things are in there, but it's a family storage closet. We are VERY short on storage in this house. It's a long story. But anyway, the other one I put to lock my pantry door closed. Hallelujah!!!! I LOOOOOVE that Dr. D can no longer access my shelves and the food thereon at any time he so desires. It has been the most wonderful thing. I was constantly finding him with food out of the pantry, or climbing the shelves, or just messing it up. Now, I can put the food away and know that it won't be dumped, pawed through, moved, or otherwise messed up/eaten without my consent. What a great feeling! Just going to put one more on my bedroom door, and I think I'll feel pretty much safe in my own house. For now.

Easter sweets

I am currently on a crusade to rid sugar from my family's diet. I am considering posting more about that later, but I bring it up because I want to share what we did for Easter this year that turned out so well, I believe we have just started a new tradition. Yes, we had NO candy or anything with sugar in it for Easter, and not ONE SINGLE KID (or adult) complained in any way about it.

Instead, I got those plastic eggs, and DH and I came up with 12 things about each child that we love about them--some funny things, some serious--printed them out, and put them inside the eggs. It was a fun surprise! I used a sharpie and put the initial of who it was for on the egg so each child had to find their own eggs.

I'm telling you, it was so awesome! I'm trying not to pat my own back too hard here, but I'm so happy when one of my schemes, er I mean ideas, turns out well for a change!! :)

10 months

My picture a week late as usual. Today DH reminded me that our baby will be turning a year old next month.

I cried.

Easter stuff

We colored our Easter eggs Saturday night, and it was clear that Dr. D didn't remember it from last year. He was sooo excited about the whole thing.

He was thrilled to put his egg into the cup and see it change colors. He would put the egg in and immediately say, "Can I take it out now?" So we developed a system of putting the egg in the cup, singing the ABC song, and then taking the egg out.


What's that she's writing on that egg, you wonder? Let's see, shall we...

Yes, it's an evil egg. The other side has "Dead Bob" on it; code word for skull or skeleton at our house. Yah, it's baaaad to the bone.

Here's our loverly assortment of eggs. Sweet G was the one who got all fancy (as usual) and did the tie-dye and patchwork looking ones. The little kids loved the stickers.

And here's how Teeny Bopper colored eggs. Yep, sitting on her tush at the computer. She doesn't like the smell of the eggs and the vinegar coloring solutions, so she opted out. It's ok, because Dr. D and Little Miss were very happy to color a few extra eggs.


And here's a shot of baby boy finding an egg. He's just cute, that's all. :)