My first dumpster diving experience

Yeah, I went dumpster diving. Don't worry, we took rubber gloves, hand sanitizer and a pole to push things around with. Oh, and of course some pepper spray! You never know who you might meet behind a dumpster!!! Anyway, I went with my best friend Cristi and her sister Julia. It was certainly an adventure. We set out with the camera and a video camera so we could document our very first dumpster diving experience, but I of course forgot the memory card, and it was too dark to make a good video. We hit up all of the strip malls around Hueytown, Lowes and two apartment complexes.

Our findings:

About 1,000 egg shells
A busted up hula hoop
Someone's old boxer shorts... yuck!
A vacuum cleaner (we decided to leave it, it probably didn't work)
empty boxes
Very stinky garbage!!!

Ok, so you can see... we didn't do too well for our first dumpster dive. We were all very disappointed and tired and didn't get back to my house 'till close to midnight.

Maybe we'll do better next time... that is IF there is a next time. Maybe we''ll go check out some of the better neighborhoods. Maybe rich people have better trash :)

Hawaiian girl peg doll

Well, I finally got something in my Etsy shop! I've been so nervous about putting something up, but I just went ahead and did it anyway. I thought the little doll turned out so cute, and I worked on her forever! She was not easy to make! I was absolutely terrified to paint her face on... she sat on a shelf for weeks before I actually got up the nerve to do it this morning. If I messed up, that paint will not wash off, so she would have been a goner. Anyway... I want to put up my little Chinese girl too, so I'll have to get around to that tonight. Too much housework today... Oh, and I got a coupon organizer! Yay! Now all I have to do is put the coupons in it... I wonder how long it will be before I can get that done...

Multitasking or scatterbrained...

Why can't I seem to get organized? I've always told Bobby that I am just multitasking... a great quality, that is a must for any housewife. He says I'm just scatterbrained. (Don't get mad at him Mom) I'm beginning to think he's right. I started cleaning up the yard yesterday evening, and before I knew it I was in the living room vacuuming under and behind the couch cushions. It all of a sudden hit me... What am I doing here, I was trying to clean the yard... This happens all of the time. I start in one room and then find myself in another, doing something completely different... like brushing my teeth! (I found myself doing that yesterday as well) What's wrong with me. I try to make lists, but they just get scattered about the house. I try to start in one room and work my way to the next, but it never fails... I end up somewhere else, doing something else... Arghhh... I have got to get more organized. I think I need a daily planner. I know I need something to organize my coupons... that is a must because they are everywhere from my purse to the kitchen drawers. My purse is another problem. No matter how hard I try, I can not keep it cleaned out. I have had this problem as long as I've carried a purse! Usually I just change purses when mine gets so messy I can't stand it, so I have a closet full of purses with old make up, receipts and who knows what else. I have a filing cabinet (or basket I should say) but I hardly ever get around to putting the stuff in the files, and have I labeled those files?... nope... they still say the strange odd things they said when I bought it at the thrift store... like Colorado, Vermont, Savannah, Purto Rico, and a really strange one... Steinhatchee. Oh, and they threw one in there that fits in so well with the rest... Cat's rabies tags. I told Bobby yesterday that it's so sad... I am such an organized person at heart, why can't I just become that way. I've always wanted to be like Monica from Friends, she was so organized. I've tried... I really have, sometimes I feel more like Kramer from Seinfield though... Oh well...

My embarrassing moment last Thursday...

So let me set the scene for you... My yard is a total mess... Construction zone as I've been calling it. Shoes on the porch, tee shirts laying around, empty water bottles, lumber, tools, mud all over the patio (that's not finished, by the way) It is bad... I'm telling you, very trashy looking. We have been doing a lot of work, putting up the pool, building the patio, starting a fence... so I haven't really been cleaning the yard up... oh and an empty baby pool just sitting out in the back of the yard. So... ok... It was last Thursday and apparently I forgot that it was Lexie's Thursday with her dad. We're splashing and playing in the pool and who walks up in my back yard... The one person who I would never want to see all of my mess... Lexie's stepmom. Miss Put Together... In her heels, standing in my muddy yard, hair slicked back, Chanel sunglasses, buisness suit... Yeah, you can imagine... I'm there in my tiny pool splashing around, no make up (or what was left of it smeared all over my face from being in the pool) I look up and there she is, who know's how long she'd been standing there. I am just thankful to God that I didn't have on my swimming goggles. That would have just been the icing on the cake! She said she called, but we didn't answer to let us know that it was their Thursday. Oops! I was so embarrassed! Then I had to climb my white flabby I've-had-2-kids body (in my red bikini) in front of her and her I've-had-no-kids-I-look-fabuluous-body, and walk quite a long distance to grab my towel and cover up very quickly. It was like one of those slow motion moments, where I just wanted to crawl under the pool and stay there. I could have just died! She was very nice and was very understanding about my forgetfulness, but none the less.. I was mortified! Yard, patio and deck in total dissaray, red bikini, me wearing Bobbys way too big for me shoes, hair tangled horribly from doing flips in the pool, streaked mascara all under my eyes, and well... you can imagine... It was so just embarrassing.

If you've been wondering (probably haven't) but I have been doing some crafting here lately. I know I haven't been posting about it lately... I have not given up on my clay... It's just been quite busy around here lately, with all of the yard work, 3 birthdays and Fathers day this month... I will be getting some pictures up soon of all the stuff I've been making. Plus I still want to set up my Etsy shop and have been working on taking pictures for that.

Until next time...

Happy Birthday Mom

Happy birthday Mom! You are the best mother anyone could ever have. I appreciate you more than you will ever know. You are my best friend and the best grandmama that my kids could ever have. You are such a giving, loving, wonderful person. I was so blessed growing up to have you for a mother. I hope you know how much that I love you... Happy Birthday Mom!

Our day at Tannehill

We loaded up the car and headed to Tannehill State Park yesterday. It has always been one of my favorite places to go, ever since I was a teenager. I've had dreams of when I get old, being the park ranger there and living in one of those old log cabins. Doubt it will ever happen, especially since I know absolutely nothing about park rangering... Just a nice dream though. Anyway... Tad had his first little train ride... I was surprised he didn't cry with all of the noise it made, but I think he really enjoyed it!


Here we are at Bubbling Springs. Tad is very quickly trying to escape from me. I didn't have shoes on. The rocks were SO sharp and it was very hard to catch him!

Lexie catching him for me... There was lots of screaming involved, feet stomping, kicking and then he BIT me. He was so mad he actually bit me! I couldn't believe it... My sweet little boy bit my shoulder so hard it still has a purple mark on it today!
Lexie standing on the picnic table singing "Play that funky music white boy" I had to tell her to stop, then she did the whole "Well... you told me not to sing but that doesn't mean I can't humm it..." Why do children love to aggrivate their parents so much?
We had a nice little picnic where we dined on pb&j's and cheese puffs... yummy! and so healthy too...

Other than the temper tantrums, and yes there were quite a few, we had a pretty good time. I did however learn that an umbrella stroller just doesn't work at all for the terrain at Tannehill. I had to pick it and him up together several, several times just to get us around the place. I really need one of those packs you can put babies in to wear on your back. I do suppose I got my exercise in though, which is good because I haven't been to the gym all week...

Party's finally over!

Well, the party went over very well... I suppose. I was completely worn out, Bobby was too! I don't think I realized how hard it would be to cook a meal for other people (I don't do that often) especially while being that tired. I didn't realize how hard it would be to have everything done at the same time, especially in a tiny kitchen with 4 grown ups and a very excited 9 year old running around. Thank goodness Tad was in the den! The mac and cheese got kind of cold before everything else was ready, but all in all, everything turned ok. It was nice to actually cook a meal for my parents. They are the ones who always cook for us, so it made me feel good to do it for them. Lexie opened her presents, we had gingerbread cake and that was it... it was time to rest. Well of course we had to get in the pool. So I had to go to Walmart, for probably the 5th or 6th time this week. It seems here lately that that's where I spend most of my time... Anyway, ...had to get a baby float and some swimmy diapers. I talked to my mom while on the way there and she told me my uncle was being taken to the hospital by ambulance. He and my aunt have been sick for probably two weeks now. I won't go into all of the details, (I don't want to put all of their business on the internet without their permission) but he came home from being in the ER... he didn't want to stay over night. I'm sure all will be ok, but he's got to go back to the doc for more tests soon. Just please pray for them. They need it right now. Well, we did manage to finally get in the pool (mom wouldn't let me go up to the hospital). The kids had a blast! (Bobby being one of those kids :) Tad was pretty scared at first, but eventually started enjoying himself. I should have taken pictures... We got out at about 10:30... totally exhausted...

I've got clean up from the party to do, and Lexie wants to get in the pool... I suppose I need to get off the computer now. Please don't forget to say a prayer for my aunt and uncle.

Easy set pools....not so easy set

Well, tonight we're having Lexie's birthday party. Yesterday was her birthday, but she spent it with her Dad, so we're celebrating tonight. I got this brilliant idea yesterday to buy her one of those easy set inflatable pools. It's 15' x 48". I wanted to have it set up so that she would see it this morning when she got home. You know... a big birthday surprise! So yeah... Easy set pools are not so easy to set. It said no ground prep and no sand. It does have to be on level ground however. Very level ground. So yeah, there was lots of ground prep, and I mean lots! Plus all of the hundreds or should I say thousands of tiny rocks that had to be picked out of this 15' round level spot. We worked on it all night. I finally got to bed at close to 5 a.m. Bobby fell asleep outside by the pool! But it is finally up. The filter's not going yet, but we'll get to that eventually. So today I've been trying to clean house and get ready for Mom and Dad coming tonight. The house is a mess... there's mud and sand (from the patio we built this week) all over my floors. And I still have to go to the store to buy the stuff for the Poop on a stick! (see previous post) Why am I sitting here blogging? I guess I just needed a break. Gotta go now... more work to do.

Poop on a stick

They called it poop on a stick... yes, that's right... poop on a stick. I told them several times that they were Armenian Beef Kebabs, but they liked the other name much better. Lexie especially thought it was funny coming up with all of the funny things she could say... like, Mom, I sure do love your poop on a stick, Mom, your poop sure is great!... things like that. Yes, I know... not very good table talk. It was just so funny. What could I say?... So now Lexie has changed the plan of having cheeseburgers for her birthday to... "Oooh, ooh, mom can I have poop on a stick for my birthday? Please Please Please." So, Grandmama and Grandpa... guess what you're having for dinner when you come to the house Monday night... sorry...

The recipe:
Poop on a stick

(Armenian beef kebabs)

1 lb. lean ground beef
1/2 c. finely chopped onion
1/4 c. chopped mint
1 tsp minced garlic (mine was expired so I had to use 1/2 tsp garlic powder)
1 tsp each ground cumin and paprika
1/2 tsp each salt and pepper
8 skewers, 6 to 8 in. long

Mix all ingredients in a medium bowl until well blended. Divide mixture into 8 equal portions (about 1/4 c. each). With hands, (I wore gloves because I don't touch raw meat... ewww) form each into 1 in. thick, around each skewer. Place skewers on broiler pan; broil 8 to 10 minutes, turning once. Serve with Pickled Red Onions.

Pickled Red Onions

1 red onion thinly sliced: toss with 1 Tbsp lemon juice (I used more) and 1/4 tsp each ground cumin and salt. Let mixture stand 15 min until onions are limp. (I had to let mine sit longer because they were not going limp)

Now, I can't say that this is the best recipe ever, but they were actually kind of good despite what they looked like. And for Lexie and Bobby to like them, that says something, because they always find something to complain about when I cook something. So this one was a winner for us!

My first blog award

I've just received my very first blog award! I was nominated by Jamie at Happy Harper Stories. Thanks Jamie. You have been such an inspiration to me through your blog. You are a wonderful woman and you have encouraged me in more ways than you can imagine. Please be sure to go and check out her blog.
As a recipient of this award, you are supposed to nominate 7 people to receive the award, and you are to tell 7 things that your blog readers may not already know about you. If you are nominated and don't feel like nominating 7 other bloggers... that's perfectly fine with me. Please just know how much I love your blogs, enjoy reading them so much, and accept this award from me knowing how much it has meant to me to be able to read about you and your families and to be able to share my little stories with you. There are other bloggers I would have liked to nominate, but I was only supposed to pick seven.

The people I am giving the awards to are:

Cindy at A Quiet Place
Crystal at Pink Lucy
Jennifer at Happy Little Things
Maggie Elizabeth
Melanie Elissa at a glimpse in my life
Jennifer at Happiness is Brilliant
Mama Hen at Long Days, Short Years

The seven things you may not know about me are:

I am obsessive about having lip balm on before I go to sleep. I can't go to sleep without putting it on!

I'm scared of butterflies and moths. Not from a distance though...

I consider paper towels a luxury item.

I am left handed.

I love tattoos and body piercings, especially on men (Bobby has a tattoo ;). I don't have any tattoos, but my nose and belly button are pierced.

Tulips are my favorite flower.

I would have loved to be a professional singer, but never could have anyway because I can't sing worth a flip! I just love to sing!

Just remember to save the picture to your computer so you can add it to your blog.

Little surprises

The other night Bobby brought me in my craft room (also our computer room) and when I walked in, I saw this nice little surprise sitting on the computer desk. I was so excited. It has tons of different templates, projects and fonts on it. Something for me to play with...

While I was looking at it and reading the back, I saw he kept looking over at my craft table, I looked over and... there lay a brand new paper cutter! I had been wanting one sooo bad, because I can not cut a straight line, no matter how hard I try... I just can't seem to do it.

Now that I am so pleased and happy, I'm thanking him, telling him how sweet he is... he scoots over so I can see behind him, and what do you know. A thread organizer, holder thingy. Wow!

We get up to go back to the kitchen, and there sitting on the microwave is a 6-pack of my 5 hour energy!!! (you can see I've already broken into them) Oh, how I love these things!

Yeah, so it was a pretty exciting night. He's always so good about little surprises like that. He knows me so well, and I am totally freaking out now because his birthday is day after tomorrow. I have absolutely no idea what to get him! He said to "surprise" him. I don't know what to surprise him with! I know he needs new underwear, but that doesn't seem like a good gift. Man, I am such a terrible gift giver. He knows it too, which is why I told him to just tell me what he wants, so he won't end up with a bad gift. Nope... he wants to be surprised.

Anyway, I thought I would leave you with these lovely muddy photographs of Lexie. She and her little friend across the street decided to play in a HUGE mud puddle the other night. Right before dinner time. I told her to wash off with the hose pipe before coming in. Bad idea... unsupervised 8 year olds with a hose pipe! I'm sure you can imagine.
(The mud seemed much worse than it looks in these pictures)

Busy... busy

So, I haven't posted in a while. Been kinda busy I guess. Lexie's out of school now. We played in the sprinkler today... that was kinda fun, but I would much rather have a pool! I don't know, it just seems like we haven't been home much or I've been cleaning house like crazy. It just gets messy way too fast. And laundry... oh, my goodness! It just never ends! I did manage to craft with mom yesterday, but don't have any pictures to put up. We're planning on opening an Etsy shop, but that's harder than I thought it would be. When you actually start thinking about selling your stuff, you start noticing (more than you normally would) all of the flaws in them. Plus taking the pictures of the items is really difficult! (Cindy, I wish you were in Alabama so you could take the pictures for me :) Anyway, hopefully I'll be posting more often. Sorry I've been so bad about it.

Just a boring blog post...

So, last night the kids broke my camera. My new purple Sony Webbie that I love so much. Lexie was making videos of herself and afterward put in on a shelf in the living room that Tad could reach. And reach, he did! He obviously banged it around a few times and somehow managed to get it soaking wet... not sure with what. Bobby said, "Well, luckily we bought the extended warranty" Yeah, well... guess what... I lost the receipt! We payed with cash, so they can't look it up by credit card, and they didn't get any personal information from us when we bought it. So, yeah... I cried probably a good solid hour last night. The poor little camera was so messed up. It wouldn't respond to any of the buttons being pushed, or if it did, it was the complete wrong function that it was supposed to be doing, and you couldn't even see anything on the screen anymore. I tore apart the house, the van, and the last three purses I've been useing. The receipt is just gone. But guess what... TODAY IT STARTED WORKING!!! It just miracuously healed itsself! I was extatic. So happy I wouldn't have to go spend more money (that I don't have) on a new one. Because I would have had to have a new one! But today at the gym, I sweated all over my mp3 player and now it doesn't work! GRRRRR... Hopefully it'll dry out like my camera did, 'cause how can you work out without music! I've gotta have some Gwen Stefani to help me get through my cardio!

Dinner time conversation

It was so funny last night at dinner. Lexie decided to again try avocado, she thought she didn't like it, but has only had guacamole and thought it was gross. Tad was loving it, so she said she'd take a bite to see.

Lexie: "There isn't much taste!"

Me: "Yeah, that's what Grandmama said when she first started eating it, but now loves it with some salt!"

Lexie: "It just doesn't taste like anything"

Bobby: "Well, you just need a more refined palate"

Lexie: "But, now lettuce, that has plenty of taste!"

Bobby and I: "No, not really"

Lexie: "Well, you just need to get a better pilot."

Me: "A pilot huh?"

Lexie: "Yep, get a better pilot and you'll see, 'cause lettuce has plenty of taste."

Me: (smiling at her cuteness) "I sure do love you, Lexie"

Lexie:(looks up, grins and simply states) "Yeah, everybody does!"

My little musicians

Now I know most people do not really care to see a video of my children blowing a bugle, but I've been wanting to put a video up since I got my new little camera. This is just one of the best ones I've got. I've been having trouble getting good videos. They aren't very clear, and I can't figure out why... maybe it's just the camera and I don't know how to use it yet... who knows. And yes I know it's terrible the song Lexie is singing... I should have never taught it to her! It's the "Joy to the world the teacher's dead" that everyone learns in elementary school. Yeah, I know I shouldn't have done that... (be sure and press stop on the music playlist or you won't be able to hear the video)

Pictures

I finally finished organizing my craft room. Well, for the most part anyway. I'm still not through with the cabinet and I have things like beads that need to be sorted. I want to find a better way to organize my thread... just stuff like that. Ok, so here's the new table...

See the ribbon holder Bobby made for me to go above the window. Who needs curtains, when you've got ribbon!!! (the room is still kinda messy in this picture, so don't look at that)

I'm not sure what this was originally supposed to be, but it is now my scissor holder. Cute huh?

This is how the cabinet looked a few days ago. I've done a bit more stenciling, but I didn't feel like taking another picture of it this morning. I still have a long way to go on it...

Here are the free pincushions from the estate sale this weekend. (they came with the pins too!)

I was originally going to model these aprons for you. I tried this one on this morning and it really didn't look good with my pajamas, so I just hung it on the door for the picture... I thought it was so pretty. Not bad for a dollar!

This one was $2.

This one I thought was so cute, I actually payed $3 for! I thought it was so funny because I didn't realize it was a powerball lottery apron until I got it home. I thought it was just green and black... then I saw all of the little dollar bills and lottery balls!

Tired

Well, the cabinet's not really going so well... still... The stenciling just made a huge mess and I am now trying to cover over what I did with more white paint. Fun fun! I've been redoing my craft room today. We got a long table to go in here so I can organize better. So, I'm pretty tired. We went to a couple of estate sales and yard sales yesterday. I got 3 aprons and 2 little pincushions. I managed to actually get the pincushions for free. They were .25 a piece, then 1/2 off that, so the guy just said to forget about it! Not too bad! I'll have to put pictures up later. One of them is really cute. I know it's got to be old. It's a little shoe with a tape measure that pulls out of the side. Pretty neat... i've never seen one like that. Anyway, I've got to get back to work now. Hope everyone's had a great weekend!

Big Ugly Metal Cabinet part 3

I'm about to give up on the cabinet. I've had a heck of a time with it. My plan was to get it all painted white, do the stenciling and the chalkboard paint on a portion of the door. I got the painting finished yesterday, after several complications and interruptions... Mom, I'm hungry.. Mom, look at Tad.. Mom, I want a kiwi... so on and so forth... I also learned several lessons while doing this :

Always pull your hair back while painting, because it will get in your hair. Also hair will get stuck in your fresh paint and you won't notice it until it's dry!

Don't ever paint anything up against a wall and right beside other furniture... always pull it out first! (paint will get on everything!)

Do not wear your best pajama pants to paint in.

Do not use a paint roller that the dog has chewed the ends up. It will mess up your painting. (after painting with the damaged roller for a good half hour, I finally went in search of another one, dodging obstacles and climbing mountains of electrical wire and tools that are all in the bottom of Bobby's shed!

Don't paint anything that's rusty without sanding it first

And most importantly... DO NOT use paint that is not meant for metal!!! It just scratches off! Sure, it will stick to my skin just fine and not want to wash off, but does it want to stick to the cabinet... nope!

After all my work yesterday, Bobby comes home and says... "Yeah, you shouldn't have used that kind of paint... it's not gonna stick" Why couldn't he have just told me this the other day after I painted the first two coats on, is beyond me! I'm not sure what I'm going to do now...

The perfectly boiled egg

No, I can not boil an egg. Such an easy, simple task, and I can not seem to master it! I have been boiling eggs for years, but one or several always seem to crack while boiling. Sometimes they get real dark on the inside. Now I admit this morning, I had a feeling they would mess up. I put them on and started boiling, but I wanted to come sit in here at the computer for a while, so I turned them down to a simmer. ...Kinda forgot about them, but once I remembered, I turned them back to a boil... did that for about eight minutes, which obviously was not long enough, but I thought since they had been simmering for so long, they would be partially cooked. WRONG. One of them cracked wide open, so I decided to have that one first... peeled it... looked fine... second egg, started peeling... nope not done. It was all nice and runny, so I threw it away. I boiled the rest of the eggs for about 5 more minutes and have not checked them yet. I don't know why I have such trouble with this. My mom and dad always have perfectly boiled eggs. My aunt always has such beautiful deviled eggs, how does she peel them with out messing up the egg. I even have trouble peeling them! I always end up losing some of the white with the shell. What is wrong with me!!! I am seriously aggravated here, maybe I've had too much coffee and my nerves are just on edge.

My new little crafting companion

No, I did not make this slug out of clay... he is REAL, and WAS IN MY HOUSE!!! I really hate to admit that, but really it was just too funny not to share... I found this little guy crawling all over a fuzzy scarf here in my craft room. I told Bobby, maybe he just liked the feel of the fuzzy material on his belly... who knows... Not sure exactly where he came from, but after his little exploration, we quickly escorted him back outside. I don't think I'll be walking around barefooted for a while!

Another funny story that I tried to take a picture of but my camera just wouldn't work well in the dark, was Bobby last night, after helping his brother move again, trying to unload the riding lawnmower we're going to store for him. ( I hope he know's I have no intention of giving it back :) He didn't have a ramp so he made one out of a filing cabinet, two boards and a mattress at the bottom in case the boards broke! It was just too funny! Boy did I feel like a redneck! If anyone saw us last night, they were probably laughing, because I'm sure it was quite a site to see... and me running around the mattress freaking out, trying to keep the boards on top of the filing cabinet and Bobby yelling "Get out of the way Baby!" Yes, I wish I could have taken a picture...