The Battle of the Cupcakes!!

Its been an insane summer so far and its almost to an end.  I'm going to miss the girls being home all day.  Ainsley will begin her first year as a kindergartner.  Lord please bless her teacher. 

Today I competed in a cupcake contest.  For those who arent aware, I am the Cupcake Lady around here.  I love to bake. A friend told me about the Vanderburgh County Fair having a Battle of the Cupcakes...this was like discovering chocolate for the first time, that happy did it make me. 

So after much discussion we decided to go with the apple pie cupcakes I love.  Its a vanilla and apple sauce flavored cupcake, cored with apple pie filling inside, and topped with a buttercream icing, and a caramel drizzle.  Yeah its awesome lol. 

Then came the display.  Now I wanted this to look awesome..but I did not and could not spend a fortune on these cupcakes and their display.  In my time of need I went to the wise and all knowing Jane.  My neighbor, Jane-Jane as my girls call her.  Her home is a testament that with several years, an eye for what will work, and yard sale and Good Will shopping your home can be beautiful.  I love going into her house, every trip theres something different to see than the last time I was there. 

I had aleady decided that with the apple pie cupcakes I wanted a country look, and I wanted a shelf, like a curio shelf open backed and was going to buy one and maybe some boxes to stagger and have cupcakes on them...well that wasnt working so I went to Jane and came home with.....see the great Washboard shelf?  That's Janes and the shadow box that I soooo want to steal? That is Janes.

My display at the Battle.

The cupcake holders, are small jelly mason jars, not sure on the size that I e600 to candle holders from Good Will ages ago and have used for everything from penny holders, hair do dad holders to potpouri holders.  The cupcake stand I made 2 hours before the competition.  Nothing like waiting till the last minute.  I used a small jelly jar/mason jar upside down, glued a cake board to it..then glued a Ball Canning jar to it, and inserted some Gerber red daisies from Walmart.  I then glued a slightly smaller cake board on top and another smaller jar on top and filled with daisys....now I will turn you where I screwed up.  Glue the Gingham ribbon on around your cake stand...before gluing the boards to the jars..otherwise its like wrestling a wet angry chicken...moves around everywhere.  I put a gingham fabric piece I already had here down on the table first, and added some left over ribbon to sit on top....not a very expensive display but it worked great! 

The judges lovooeedddd my cupcakes.  And they loved my display :)  I received First Place in the individual division.  I so wished Hadley, my 10 year old could have competed but unfortunately she was at camp this week and couldnt be there.  It was a lot of fun, we had 1 hour to decorate our cupcakes and set up our display.  I managed it with minutes to spare!  And thankfully my husband took care of the girls while I did the cupcakes..for the most part.  Ainsley stood at the table a long time eating my cupcake centers as I cored the cupcakes lol.  She took advantage of unlimited cake! 

It was a great time and I hope I get to do another one some time....and I met a lot of really nice people there too.  Except for the one, but then there's always one? lol.

If your going to threaten it....you better be ready to do it..

So today I was enjoying some me time...while walking around the Princeton, Indiana Walgreens...hey a girls gotta get her me time where ever she can!  So Im enjoying the quiet....QUIET mind you in a store..when my quiet contemplative yoga like moment walking through the feminine hygiene aisle (kotex on sale, just a heads up) when I hear the screeching.  The screeching of the children.  My children you ask?  No mine were locked in their cages at home..okay really they were running wild terrorizing the neighborhood while their father was supposed to be watching them..but anyway...A lady and three kids--yeah a know  a woman with three loud children, who do I think I am to be judging?  I'm actually not judging, but the screeching continued.  My yoga like moment was sooo gone.  So mom, their mom, not mine, begins this interchange:
Mom:  If you dont stop screeching I'm going to pop that mouth.
Kid:  screeching continues
they contine to walk through the aisles...my yoga like contemplative moment is soooo gone and I'm wondering what was on tv at home.

Kids:  screech screeecccchhhhh
Mom:  If you dont shut up Im going to pop that mouth...

Okay so basically what we have is a kid who has mom's number.  And in a big way.  Here's an idea though. If you've threatened it four times...and interupted my Zen like enjoyment of Walgreens, pop your kid in the mouth and be done.  I know, I know, I'm not sugguesting that you start beating your kid. But if your going to threaten if FOUR times, LOUDLY and nothings happening maybe its time to do something other than threaten?  I'm not suggesting we all participate in a National Pop Your Kid in the Mouth Day at Walgreens...wonder if they'd give out free hotdogs that day?.....okay but really, if your not willing to actually do it, then why are you threatening it in the first place?

Now I will admit I have threatened my children.  I threatened to sell Sami, age 4 to Gypsies yesterday....and I even dialed 1800gypsy....admittedly it was to freak her out to get her to stop aggravating her sister but I'd like to think that IF an actual GYPSY had answered the phone I would have been willing to begin negotiations...she should be at least worth the cost of a new pair of shoes for mom...or that nice 31 bag I saw...hmmmmm......

Busssyyyyy week.

We've had a busy week here at the Sheffer's.  Brents been working over at work a lot.  Ainsley started private dance lessons.  I know...seems crazy for a 5 year old but she seems to really enjoy dance, and her teacher said for her to join the dance team she needs technique..so she is taking a half hour of technique class every Monday this summer.  Her sister takes 2 hours on Tuesdays, so I'll be at different dance studios two days in a row all summer...but I love watching them dance so its worth it. 

Softball is going strong, Ainsley my middle child is in t-ball and she doesn't seem to love it as much as she does dance, at least not  yet.  Hadley's team has had a rough time this year.  I think they might be 2 for 7 so far this season.  Poor girls :) 

I'm still couponing, Lord Save me!  I just got back from Wallgreens and CVS. 

I had a HAUL today, and this isnt counting the 3 12 packs of diet dew and 4 2 liters of diet dew I got Brent...yes he has a slight Dew Addiction.  All of this--not counting the cereal, was about $40..I managed to find several make-up items, 2 crackle Sally nailpolishes and other items on 75% clearance AND I had $1 off coupons...so I hit the mother lode there. I am not counting the Cereal in my out of pocket because--we receive some SNAP (aka food stamps) and I used them, and coupons that made each box $2 each.

Happy couponing each and all! Oh, and here's a lovely picuture of Miss Ainsley stylin and profilin lol.

Back on track

Love Coupons By Godek, Gregory J. P.Its been a while since I've posted.  Its been insane around here, we've had a dance competition or two, a dance recital, we started softball season, schools out.....its been nuts.  Thankfully the summer is starting to settle down and maybe I will have a little bit of time to blog....one hopes.

I have started doing something new.  I am becoming a couponer.  I just started.  I started with the basics learning from The Krazy Koupon Lady at www.krazykouponlady.com  Its an awesome site.  Got my binder started and now I'm working on building a stockpile at home.

I have also decided I now love CVS lol.  I went this past week and hit the whole ECB and coupons together scenarios and made out pretty good.

I got this for $40, used $9 in extra care bucks at the time, and about $7 in coupons, and have $10 in ECB for my next trip, added it  up and by CVS prices, which I think are a little high in some cases, it was $90 worth of merchandise.  I also have a rebate coming for $10 too, so that means it cost when all is said and done around $20.

tomorrow I begin unearthing my sewing table...and cleaning my bedroom.  Its insane..it looks like Vikings moved in.

Have a great weekend!

LaLaLoopsy Birthday Spa Party

Today was birthday central here at Casa Sheffer.  We had a party at 2 for my little girls Ainsley turned 5 on April 19, and Sami will turn 4 on May 2.  We added Hadley in to it to, because she wanted a LaLaLoopsy cake...and I live to please so we did all three a small neighborhood party and then later in the day we had 14 girls for a sleepover and "Because I am a Girl" spa party.

Here's our cake table.  I used my daughter's LaLaLoopsy mini dolls to decorate.

I am on a somewhat strained budget, and I wanted to try decorating...its been a while since I have decorated a cake and obviously I need to work on it lol.  It was a lot of fun though.  My daughter's opened a few presents.

Ainsley 5, Hadley 10 and Sami 4

The girls really liked their cake and party. Sami was a little bit of a fashion disaster. She was deadset she was wearing her cowboy boots with her heart outfit....Mom was not having it!  She loves her cowboy boots, which would be okay but they are actually Ainsley's...so they are two sizes too big, its like she's wearing clown shoes.

But after I recovered from that party I then had the Spa party.  I hung lights on our back patio, hung a good will mirror, I painted white on the fence, and drug Hadleys school desk we had upcycled from GoodWill, and a shelf we upcycled from GoodWill, out for the different make-over and manicure stations.  I put a pink tablecloth over our Little Tykes picnic table and set out a veggie tray, cookies, a fruit basket and glass champagne glasses for our Sprites.  I used two old toddler mattresses on the ground covered in a teal comforter for people to lounge on.

I made chocolate facials from coco and yogurt....and of course we had sliced cucumbers.  Then they went MANICURE crazy for about 2 hours.  We of course had to order pizzas, and a few girls went home but I ended up with 6 girls spending the night plus my own 3....

Brent is about girled out lol. They have chased him around the house, locked him out and threatened him with the chocolate facial mix....he says he wants to trade them all in for boys :)

Teaching Politics and saving the free World

My 10 year old, Hadley, I think is going to be a world changer.  I say that and she'll end up working at Hooters, Karma being what it is and all.  (And no offense to all the lovely women working at Hooters, just saying, your not changing the face of the nation ya know?)  She wants to help people.  Right now she is saving spare change to sponser materials needed for Plan Hope, in their I am a Girl Campaign.  If you do not know what this is, its a charity that helps women, children, girls, etc. in countries where help is needed.  You can sponsor a package for as low as $10, giving baby blankets to mothers who need them, or $15 to give a family 3 baby chicks, and the feed they need to provide for them, so they grow up have eggs, and more chicks thereby feeding and adding income to the family.  I had to go through the whole cause and effect, cause Hadley was thinking you give them 3 chickens and they EAT THEM lol. Nope not that quick Hadley lol. 

But she really thinks about things.  My other two, I'm not seeing much philanthropy in their future at this point.  They will fight to the death over a pair of pink Barbie shoes for their doll, and I mean it won't end until Ainsley actually sits on Sami and makes her give them to her.  And yes I will admit that during this I usually am watching, sometimes with video equipment...ITS FUNNY PEOPLE!! 

But back to my little world changer, she has said  she wants to be an archeologist (yeah I totally was all for that one, since I would have loved to have been one lol)  And then last week it was that she wants to be a missionary.  Again, really cool. 

Here's the issue we have around here.  I'm Liberal...and I do mean Liberal with the big "L".  And along with that of course a Democrat, hello, there is no species called a Liberal Republican, unless you count a Republican who wears khaki shorts...that's as free thinking as some of them can get...(whole group needs sticks removed from a....ahem)  back on track now. When we are discussing world issues I of course have a bent.  And I'm attempting,  ATTEMPTING, to not flavor her thought process, to let her choose her way, let her see both sides. 

Yeah me, the queen, of no your not thinking correctly, I will show you the way to the land of milk and honey where everyone agrees with me, is attempting to raise a child who can think for herself, and will choose her own politcial direction.  Now the big problem I've always had is this.  How can a Liberal, also be a Christian.  Trust me it aint easy, cause I get told I'm wrong and going to Hell about everytime I read a Religious based blog or article, because most don't believe you can compartmentalize it.

So I will just keep on trying, and we'll see how this goes. I just keep telling myself:  I'm not raising children, I'm raising adults who will someday be in charge of where I spend my last days, and where to send the nuclear bombs.  I can't make her believe what I do, all I can do is give her education and share viewpoints and explain both sides of an issue...and yes being a good parent sometimes sucks.  I would like to say sometimes...you will believe this because I tell you to...and then I remember that sooooo didn't work for MY MOM :)

A Day Without Pink: My daughters birthday parties are looming on the h...

A Day Without Pink: My daughters birthday parties are looming on the h...: My daughters birthday parties are looming on the horizon...I'm a little nervous, noone has RSVP'd....and that scares me that the girls are g...

My daughters birthday parties are looming on the horizon...I'm a little nervous, noone has RSVP'd....and that scares me that the girls are going to be disappointed that they won't have very many friends or family there.  Plus its been Indiana Psycho Weather Cold here the past week and of course part of the party is being planned for OUTSIDE, as in all off the younger girls party and most of Hadley's.

Right now we've got the lights up outside already and I've got a lot of stuff for it, so if noone comes I'm going to be embarassed and hurt...and I don't even want to think about how the girls are going to feel.

I am also worried about how the house is going to look to these kids.  Hadley's at an age, 10, where the girls become evil demons.  We are by no stretch of the imagination wealthy, to be honest we live in subsidized housing.  I won't get into what exactly that means, save that for another blog :)  But I'm worried the house won't look good enough or be clean enough for these girls.

Yes I worry about the oddest things sometimes.  But I have a few projects to clear up that are taking up space, and the party will go forward and I hope that their friends and what little family we have is able to come to our home and enjoy the celebration.

Right now for the older girls we are planning a spa party, Hadley's friends will get chocolate facials, mani pedi's, , and we'll have cucumber slices...my child thinks that is the awesome part, I'm not sure why they are obsessed with the cucumbers, but we'll definitely have them.  Then we are going to do some sort of craft, still trying to figure out what, got a trip to Michael's in my future this week.  We found wine glasses we will be serving our drinks in, and white lights outside on the patio where the spa will take place.  And we have to figure out a movie, or I may just let them take over Netflix for the night lol.

Whatever happens I'm just hoping the girls all have a good day.

40 things to do before I turn...gulp....40

Not sure why I was thinking about this today...but I was.  Was feeling a little down, dealing with personal and financial struggles and got a little whiney.  Yes I am an actual blogging person who doesn't live in perfect world with a perfect husband, perfect children, and the ability to create masterpieces out of duct tape and cat littler liners.

Camping? Sleeping on the GROUND?  Have you lost it?!?

So after some thoughts....here is the beginning of my list...I'm still working on it.

1.  Write something every day...here's an easy one because I'm counting a loony Faceback status as "writing" for my needs I'll stretch the definition.

2.  Continue attempting to live a healthier lifestyle.

3.  Be nicer to my husband...yeah sometimes I'm bitchy for the sake of being bitchy...I need to work on it.

4.  Learn to accept that some members of my family are just never going to like me.  So they can bite me.

5.  Finish my book...yeah its half finished, for some reason I'm not able to concentrate the past couple years.

6.  Go camping with the entire family..for no other reason than I want to mock Ainsley when she's older for her many bug freakouts.

....there's six so please feel free to suggest some....its an ongoing list lol.

Okay so today I'm adding some more

7.  Meet someone who has met Bill Clinton...going with the whole 6 Degrees of Separation thing...I love that man.

8.  Go to an actual Ballet with my daughters

9.  Learn to Tap Dance.....yeah I know its dorky and Ill look like Miss Piggy in tap shoes but I wanna learn!

10.  Loose 75 lbs....we'll see how that one goes. HA HA

11.  Learn to hide my feelings better...most of the time if I wanna suffocate you with a pillow while your sleeping...you will know it.

12.  Learn to be happy with myself.

13.  Learn to accept my family for what it is...my extended family.

14.  Make more friends.

Okay enough for tonight :)  *April 23, 2012
Beckee

How things have changed.

I have a friend, who, like me, is a little crafty psycho.  We craft a lot, making things from scratch planning and making things for birthday parties. I was thinking about it today and we are really doing something of a generational shift.

My grandmothers, both had a lot, and I do mean A LOT of kids. They made bread, canned, grew gardens, found inexpensive and new ways to decorate their homes.  They raised their kids, helped farm, and sewed their own clothing.  Not because it was "fun" but because it was.  My grandmother took her 5 boys berry picking during the depression and then sold the berries by the side of the road.  They did what they had to do because there weren't any other choices. Every penny had to be counted.

Our mothers, fed us from t.v. dinners, some worked at jobs outside the home, some didn't. They used disposable diapers, disposable cups, paper plates, fed us "fast food" and bought canned vegetables from the store.  We got our clothes from JCPenny and K-Mart, or in my case 3-D lol, my birthday party was at McDonald's. My mother wouldn't have made me a dress if you put a gun to her head.  She bought Little Debbie Cakes, and cupcakes were from the grocery or a cake mix.  Everything was faster and easier and more convenient.

Today, I plant a garden in a pallet.  I sew my daughters dresses.  I research canning and look up recipes.  I make muffins from scratch, cakes, cupcakes, and cookies.  I look at ways to conserve costs and use coupons because every penny counts. And I am not alone.  I Good Will shop to make my home better, and Lord Knows it still needs some work.

I just think we are coming full circle in a lot of ways.  Maybe we've realized that in "improving" things and making it easier and faster, we've lost a part of who we are.  As a society we've been so consumed with how quickly we can get things done, how fast we can be, how busy we can be, that the Heart of our homes have been lost and we've sacrificed skills and knowledge that were used just a short generation ago.

I may not "have" to plant a garden to feed my children.  I don't have to sew my daughter's clothes, I don't have to do a lot of things.  But I am now chosing to.  I choose to try to bring back a part of the "homemaker" identity.  There is a pride in knowing your doing the best for your family by taking care of them, and in a lot of ways contributing to the world in a way that is rapidly being lost.  A wealth of knowledge can be lost from one generation to the next, and that is more than a little sad.

My daughters have 3 bithdays in what amounts to two weeks.  Hadley turns 10 on April 16, Ainsley turns 5 on April 19, and Sami turns 4 on May 2.  So normally I start planning birthdays almost as soon as the tree is put in January.  This year not so much.  I havent done anything, planned anything, nada.  So what am I going to do you ask?  Well, I'm going to get my butt in gear lol. 

After 2 weeks of waffling back and forth I finally decided against that evil place with all the games and tokens and children running beserk...I want to leave the party and not need anti-psychotic medication thank you very much.  And no pool party because I have no desire to get in a bathing suit in front of my daughters friends and parents...I don't want them to need anti-psychotic drugs when they leave either :) 

So....considering we are poor people and its three girls birthdays I've decided on an afternoon party at the shelter house in our apartment complex, its open and has picnic tables. They will share the afternoon party, with family and friends, a couple of games, a LaLaLoopsy cake made by mom :)  And then the majority will go home....then the real party's going to begin.  No, not Beckee with a couple of Chipendales, one of whom is a Russell Crowe look alike from Gladiator, a big bottle of  Mosato wine, and a cupcake....I've put no thought into my ideal party you see.....but the Spa Birthday Party.  Hadley is inviting her classmates and a couple of neighbors to our house for a sleepover/spa night.  I'm amazed at some of the ideas we have found online, via my love Pinterest, and fellow ultra talented bloggers.  I cant wait for it to take place and take pics.  SOOOO MUCH FUN!!

Hadley's Top Models

 Hadley had a photo shoot with her sisters.....Threw down a pink blanket and put make-up on them and dressed them...they were cooperative for a while.  Sami is my "smiler" lol.

Um....think its safe to say Ainsley was DONE with the whole photography thing by this time...or Hadley said something that didn't agree with Her Royal Majesty lol.  This is soooo much a typical moment at my house lol.

I've had a very aggravating day. One of those hair pulling screeching at the top of my lungs kind of days.  For one, my daughters are in way too many activities.  But I honestly don't know where to draw the line..so I won't. :)  Softball season is supposed to be starting soon.  My 9 year old  has been in softball since she was 3.  And the last year we didn't have a good year.  I felt like it was a wast of time, Hadley went to every practice and every game she could and I don't think he ever spoke to her but 3 times the entire season.  On third grade pitch night he never even gave her a chance to pitch, it was only the kids whose parents were able to spend the big bucks on private pitching lessons that ever got to pitch. So by the end of the season I was pretty much sick of it entirely.  But again this year I signed her up, and I signed my daughter Ainsley up, she is about to turn 5 so she will be in t-ball. 

So we sign up and we wait...they do the draft....and we wait....and eventually thanks to the glory of Facebook I start seeing where this person's been called, and this person's started practices....so I start to ask around to find out who our coach is.  I called the person who took the registrations, and she didn't get back with me, so I called her at work...that may have been intrusive but imo this is a pretty small town  yet, so whats the big deal? It turns out she is probably her coach.  And it wasn't a pleasant conversation, the woman was kinda snotty and rude.  So fact is I'm not looking forward to sofball for Hadley. 

But Ainsley had her first practice.  She looked so cute out there, with her little bat and glove.  I cant wait to see her play.  I'll post pics next week.  And hopefully at some point Hadley's coach will call and we'll have practice...hopefully before the season opener.

Cookies....and more Cookies

For Easter I decided to try an experiment.  I'm always on the look out for some way to earn money, without giving up my much coveted status as a stay at home mom.  I just honestly cannot live with these kids and this husband and work full time.  My house becomes a nuclear wasteland, and I start to resemble Freddy Krueger personality wise...

So I put it out there, Hey I'm making sugar cookies for Easter if you'd like to order some.  And people did, I know shocked me too lol.  I sold about 100 cookies, and I was pretty proud of how they turned out.  My next goal is to do the cookies with the royal icing that don't resemble cookies as much as they do art.  We'll see how that works out. 

I'm researching right now to see what I could bake and create for Mother's Day.  We will be having a HUGE expense coming up, Hadley, my 9 year old, soon to be 10 year olds, summer camp fees...I dont want to think about it.  Thinking about doing "Cupcakes for Camp" something to help off set the cost.  We've collected alluminum cans but I dont think that is going to pay for all of it, and I'm hoping we hear about a camp scholarship soon.  I pray she gets one, otherwise its going to be a major hardship paying for camp this year.  I knew staying home would be hard, but its even harder than what I thought it would be.

The Laundry Olympics--I'm going for the Gold

So today I worked on the laundry.  I have sworn I am getting it under control before I die under the piles of clothing like a really sad episode of Hoarders.  It's not that I do not like clean clothing, I really do, its the putting away of the clothing...that is where I find my weak spot.  So I after several days of searching online, have decided we are putting a system in place. 

1.  There will be a laundry container in every bedroom
2.  There will be a laundry container downstairs near the bathroom...some days 5 outfits are piled in the floor.
3.  Every person gets a basket that is all theirs..out of dryer into Brent, Sami, Ainsley, Hadley, or Beckee's basket.
4.  I will not have a laundry day.  As a basket gets full, it gets washed.  I tried the whole "Tuesday is laundry day idea" I found on some blogs--horrible idea with a family of 5, one of whom (Ainsley) believes she must change clothing 4 times a day to be her complete Princessness.  Yes I am rolling my eyes, but you'd just have to know Ainsley.  High Maintenance doesn't do her justice.

I am hoping this will enable me to work without feeling overwhelmed.  To get the job done, and not feel like a failure, and to keep the upstairs bathroom--which doesn't get used much--from being a scary scary place.  Here comes the confession:  When the laundry gets more than the very small hallway upstairs can handle...I put the dirty laundry in the bathroom...then it overflows into the bathtub...and then it starts to go toward the ceiling..okay now that only happened when the washing machine was broken, but you see my point?

I am currently getting the "back log" of laundry done..we won't talk about how I found a Christmas Sweater at the bottom...and it was the week of St. Patrick's day...if asked I'm swearing it "found its way" out of the closet and into the laundry, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. 

The weather here in Southern Indiana has been beautiful this week, as Hadley has been on spring break, but Ainsley and Sami, who are enrolled in Head Start had school all week..next week is their spring break--it makes no sense to me but I unfortunately don't make the rules. Much to my dismay.

Learning to blog

Hello everyone.  I am Beckee, a 37 (yikes!) year old mom of three, yep I said three, daughters.  For some reason I always get wide eyes and "Three Girls?!?" when I tell people, have to wonder if people with three boys get the same reaction.  My husband is Brent, I'm sure you'll hear a lot about him....as the only man of the house he is seriously outnumbered.  Don't feel to sorry for him, he seriously can do no wrong as far as his girls are concerned.  I've always thought either I was born in the wrong era or the wrong geographic area.  I would have made a fabulous crazy Southern Woman. What can I say, I'm loud opinionated, obnoxious and I love hats! lol.

I'm new to blogging, but not new to having an opinion on just about everything, thats just my personality.  I'm a Christian, Democrat and tend to lean liberal, and I craft just about every day.  I bake all the time.  I am the "Cupcake Lady" around here in Southern Indiana.

Right now I have challenged myself to the 30 Days of Pinterest...yeah I'm addicted to Pinterest lol.  Sooo many wonderful ideas.   Please enjoy the blog and please leave comments I'm always interested in others opinions!

  

This is Day 1 Pinterest. 

 Its a wooden box, stolen from my daughter Hadley's room (shhh no telling!)  I put coffee grounds, scented Vanilla and Orange around tea lights...when lit the tea lights warm the coffee and WOW does it smell good.  Simple, fairly inexpensive and cute...and yes that's my hubbys video games completely disorganized under neath the table..sigh...

This is Day 2 Pinterest

This is my fake "mantel" I dont have one..and I love Mantels.  I am a GoodWill Shopper, big TIME.  So I purchased the the wreath at Good Will for $1.99, took the yucky stuff that was on it off, and found these adorable wooden decorations at a local Primitive/Antique Store, they are hooks and they have different seasonal ones, so I can change out...whoo hoo.. I bought the green rhinestone tin at Goodwill, the ceramic eggs, again Good Will and the Bunny Rabbit Totem Pole at Good Will, along with the Pink Wire Basket.  The glitter eggs are plastic eggs from the Dollar Store. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day Three Pinterest

On Day Three I decided to try a new housekeeping approach.  I am following this bloghttp://www.evelynkatedesigns.com/2011/05/weekly-cleaning-calendar-printable.html

 I am not a good housekeeper.  I am not, no problem admitting it.  I have gone weeks and then look up and am like oh wow theres 3 inches of dust on that shelf..whoops.  So I am using this schedule every day to keep myself on track.  This is my job...other than making sure my pre-schoolers don't end up as juvenile delinquents...I have hope for Ainsley, my almost 5 year old, but  the ship is sinking on my 3 year old Samantha lol.  She's incorrigible!

Day: 4

My Dr. Seuss Shelf.  This was a prefab-ed brown wooden shelf, picked it up from a local used furniture store for $5, took it home and with some "screw up " paint from Walmart, $4.56, painted my shelf blue.  I am doing my bedroom, which looks like a college slackers room, sadly, in blue with a few red accents.  And as I am NOT a Seuss fan, wasn't aware of it but its pretty much now becoming the Dr. Seuss Room according to the husband. 

I hate this part of my living room.  I hate hate hate it!  I put the wreaths up to see how it would look, saw it on pinterest and it looked really adorable...and yeah Im aware--not matching wreaths lol--- but $1.99 each at Good Will, I cant pass a decent wreath for that.  I hoard Wreaths lol.  But I dont like this set up, so shhh dont tell Brent but he's moving the tv this weekend..(insert evil maniacal laugh here) Hadley, age 9 going on 30, tells me when the lights are off and she's watching a movie it looks like a giant head with google eyes and a mouth...so thats a non starter for the living room lol.

Day 6, this is my Pink Ribbon Wreath on our door.  Its sooo not done.  I used some pink ribbon left over from the lamp we are doing for Hadleys room and a foam wreath from...drum roll the GWill.  I tried plastic eggs, they are too big, so thinking I may remove the bows and make some flowrs from the ribbon.. We'll see.

Day 7...working on my Egg Garland made from Paint Samples from Walmart..should have seen the paint guy giving me the eye....lol.