Ten of My {Current} Favorite Pins

 
So I know I’m technically three days late for a Top Ten Tuesday post and even one day late for a Favorite Things entry but in the spirit of the new year I’m going to declare myself early for both of these! Yay me! (And of course I wrote this on Friday and am only now posting it on a Monday…boo!   But still early!)

{I’m amazed I’m even attempting a blog post, but I think I’m all hyped up on the unforeseen bliss of having a mostly clean and partly organized house. And even with all that its 2:16 p.m. on a Friday and I’m sitting in my basement, STILL in my PJs (if you want a visual, look at our blog header—yep, same ones) with a bright green bandana wrapped around my too-long hair. But enough about me, okay, actually I’m not done just yet. I’ve been a bit busy with school and home and life and teenager’s DRIVING and teenagers (yes, plural) with girlfriends. Sigh.}

Back to my favorite pins I’ve actually tried, made, used…
1. “Fair is where you get cotton candy.” I’ve pinned oodles of sayings, both humorous and inspirational, but this is the one that has seen the most mileage in my household. My kids finish my sentence, and they hate it. Bonus!

2. Nutella Crescent Rolls. Sweet mercy, these are spectacular! (And they’re real!) I used my old standby crescent roll dough recipe and skipped the nuts. I also made mine in the traditional crescent shape, probably won’t do that again. They were ten kinds of delicious but forty kinds of messy. I’ll roll ‘em up and put them in a muffin tin next time.

 
3. DIY Waterless Snow Globes. I am in the firm grip of a serious addiction to Mason jars at the moment. So these were the perfect thing to showcase my growing collection. So cute and so stinkin’ easy! I used them as my Christmas Eve breakfast centerpiece (we have a HUGE family—hubby is one of 8) and we’re crazy enough to invite them all over every year. Truly one of my favorite parts of the holiday, hands down.

4. “Go Away I’m Reading” Coffee Mug.” This gets a “most favorite pin” award because the BFF saw it, and designed a personalized mug for me with this on it!! (Little does she know—well she will soon, and yes, I sent her present WAY late—that I also bought her Christmas gift that was Pinterest inspired..heehee!)

5. Christmas Tree Ribbon Shirt. I took the inspiration of this pin and made my niece one for Christmas! Only, Jilly and I decided K would much rather have a black, white, and pink zebra stripe and polka dot one, so that’s what we did. Not too shabby for my first attempt. The fact my sweet niece wore it (IN PUBLIC) for the church Christmas social…well, I was extremely proud of myself.

6. Cleaning Baking Pans. This worked surprisingly well. Not absolutely fantastic. It could only get that kind of rating if I didn’t have to scrub. And I did.

7. Chocolate Oreo Cream Cake. Yup, just look at the picture. It’s twice as rich as it looks. So I served it with a large scoop of homemade vanilla ice cream, just to cut the sweetness.


8. Nutella Hot Chocolate. This has been made a couple of times. I make it full strength for my chocoholic Jill and then add a little more milk to mine.

9. Martha Stewart’s Tub Scrub. Possibly the most used pin. I use about 95% homemade cleaners (can’t give up the Murphy’s oil soap for my hardwoods, the plain vinegar was NOT doing it). So this has been a very welcome addition to my arsenal.

10. Sperry Top Sider Angelfish. Okay, so this is really stretching it since I did pin these myself. The older I get, the more I find I need to invest in being well shod. (Yes, I just compared myself to a horse.) And these little puppies have totally done the trick. I am in love. So thankful I have an enabling best friend who encourages me to spend too much money on shoes.
 

 
And honestly I just “completed” a new pin this morning (I am one seriously dedicated addict, people, serious!) that is just pure genius.  But I thought I had inflicted enough pain on you for the morning.
Wishing all the best to you and yours in 2012, and Happy Pinning!

Check out more Top Ten Tuesday posts over at Oh Amanda!

Pam
(aka Pam525 on Pinterest)

Face Painting Tips

Now, the above pic may not look super professional, but it is better than your average bear.  I mean jungle cat.  Whatever.
I watched a pro do the face painting at a kids’ event last year and I brought home a tip or two or ten.

#1.  Cosmetic sponges.  I used the cheap, triangle ones.  These are essential for blending.  Don’t cake that stuff on your kid’s face.  It will crack and be uncomfortable.  Plus, it saves your stock.  So that you can have more face paint fun later on.  With or without children.  {wink}

#2.  You don’t have to be exact with your color.  Just blend on a good size blob of color, then use the black or darker colors to make your butterfly, kitty face, spiderman mask, whatever. 

#3.  Use your makeup.  I tested this look on myself the night before Missy Moo’s Cheetah project presentation (the reason for the face) and discovered that the black face paint stings the eye.  Not in the eye, though I imagine that would be less than comfortable.  The delicate skin around the eye.  So we used black liquid eyeliner for her eyes and the tiny whisker dots above her lip.

#4.  Use help.  There are many sites out there to help you get the look you want.  This one has instructions, but limited designs.  I just used Google images and combined elements I liked from several, along with looking at an actual Cheetah to get it close.  Well, as close as a human face could get with limited funds/talent/time.

#5.  Practice.  We practiced the night before, so I knew what I did want and did not want to do, and about how long it would take.  When playing beat the bus, you need an idea of how long this will be.

#6.  BLOT.  This is essential.  Otherwise you’ll have smears.  I found this out as I dropped her off.  (And I lost that game of beat the bus.  Thanks for asking.)  I used clean makeup sponges to blot the eyeliner so it wouldn’t transfer to her eyelid.  I forgot to blot the dots.  Grr…

#7.  Powder is your friend.  After you’ve blotted, of course.  Unless you want black face paint on your powder brush and tiny streaks on your face.  If so, rock on my friend.  Set the whole look with a quick brush of powder.

#8.  I would even invest in a few different size brushes.  The cheapie that came with the face paint was ok, but a bit big.  I’d have liked the lines to have been smaller.

#9.  Work on a sleeping child.  I can’t tell you the number of times I said “STOP MOVING!”  I think sitting would have helped, too.  Funny how you come up with so many great ideas after it’s over, right?

#10.  Cheat.  You could just scribble “CHETTAH” on the kid’s forehead and be done with it.  Let people hone that wonderful imagine everyone keeps yammering on about.

So there you have it.  I know.  You’re dying to see me in cat, right?  Well you don’t have to twist my arm so hard. 
Here.
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Don’t you love my cat face?  (Hubby did NOT appreciate my feline form.)

I linked up with Homebody’s Tuesday Tips and Tricks, The Stories of A 2 Z Tutorials & Tips Tuesday, as well as OH Amanda's Top Ten Tuesday.  Visit these sites for great ideas, or link up for yourself!

So, do you have any face painting tips to add? 

My Not-So-Triumphant Return to Blogging

Deep breath, breathe, breathe, it's okay, you can do this! (Pardon me while I give myself a little pep talk.) I know it's been almost *gasp* 10 months since you've posted on this here blog, but it's okay, you can do it!

So what better way to try and get back into the swing of things than to tell you all the reasons I haven't been swinging, err, I mean blogging. But I haven't been swinging either, unless you want to count the few minutes on my front porch.

So here, in random order, are the Top 10 Excuses I Use to Not Blog:


1. I'm busy. But that's really a given. I mean isn't everyone busy? And aren't we all tired of hearing how busy everyone else is blah blah blah. We're all busy in our own little ways. So what if my busy means watching Sarah's House while reading a regency romance and making a list of all the things I really DO need to do. I'm still busy. (Hey, I said they were excuses, not necessarily good ones.)


2. Gorgeous New Nephews (yes, plural). My sister had twin boys in June! My sweet little nevies were born at 27 weeks and they were seriously tee-niny. Zac weighed in at 1 lb 14 oz and Will was 1 lb 10 oz. It's been the most emotional thing I've ever experienced. It's an absolute roller coaster (I can't even imagine how my sweet sister and her husband have held up so well, so proud of them!) . Z came home about a week ago, and but our Iron Will still needs one more surgery before he can come home.

3. Cooking for a Crowd. Being a family of six and dedicated Dave Ramseyer's, we almost never eat out. I've pretty much quit buying convenience foods (my son's still mourn pizza rolls and hot pockets so don't bring those up if you come by, please). Which means I've got to put a little more effort into my menu planning (the planning, not the execution).

On that note, here's a link to my most favorite pizza ever. It's become my go-to dish for potlucks, family dinners, etc. (it's cheap, easy and available--the ingredients that is). And, just one more side note, I've been making homemade cinnamon rolls for quite a while, and I thought my recipe was a-ma-zing. Until I tried Pioneer Woman's recipe....Shut Up! Seriously, these are indescribable, uncontainable, awestruck...oh, sorry, my apologies Chris Tomlin. (And, again, sorry--honestly, could this get any longer--have you heard C. Tomlin's remake of "Where the Streets Have No Name"? Fab.)

4. Laundry. It pretty much follows cooking doesn't it? I read a blog post (I'm trying to find the link) about laundry and cleaning. The gist was if you can stay on top of your laundry and know what's for dinner half your battles that day have been won. I'm sold on the theory, not just to put it into practice.

I've also been following the Nester's 31 Days Series and she's addressed laundry a couple of times too. Good stuff. And I will admit, this is usually my Waterloo. I always have the washer and dryer going, it's the folding and putting away that trip me up. D said to me, there's a monster in our bedroom and it's growing. I told him my methods weren't working, if he'd like to be my knight in shining armor and slay it for me. My knight hopped on his faithful steed (his recliner) and booked it to the next kingdom (living room). (Hee hee, sorry honey.)

Anyhoo, I've actually stayed on top of the mountain of laundry for about a week and a half. But that was before this little thing called apple butter at our church took over my life from last Wed-Sat and it will do so again this week. I'm getting ready to gird my loins and do battle this afternoon. Here's what my bed currently looks like:

5. Football. Practices 3x a week, games, stinky laundry, making dinner for family members at odd times. See, everything goes back to laundry and food? Everything! (And from March - July it was baseball, August to October Football...just to clarify my entire six-month sabbatical).


6. Eldest Boy. The eldest is growing up way too fast. He's 15 and a half, took his first real date to the homecoming dance, and is doing the preliminaries for his driver's license....boo hoo. (Or as my mom sang to him at the football game the other day..'you are 15, going on 16'...bahahaha. He didn't have a clue what she was doing. It was hilarious...and, yes, slightly embarrassing. Not b/c she was singing to him, but she really needs to wait until next year so she can do it correctly.) And can I just say: girlfriends + driving + almost 16 = Mama is not handling this very well :(.


7. School. Okay, this is really a lame excuse because I'm taking one, yes, ONE class this semester. It's sociology, it's actually interesting and totally and completely easy. Online and all open book. I mean ALL. Tests, quizzes, etc. I really should take this off the list but I'm running out of excuses.


8. I'm Lazy. Yep, I'm one of those people who knows how much I can handle and when my little teapot gets to perking a little too hard, I know it's time to turn the heat back. I like to chill. I like to be a nice mom and not a mean, stressed out, yelling crazy woman (I mean sometimes I still am but for the most part I try not to be).

Now here's where we get to the nitty-gritty.

9. I'm Addicted to HGTV and Regency Romances. As I said in #9, I need down time, I crave alone time. I absolutely have to have some time to myself or I will. go. crazy. The problem is sometimes my down time creeps into my productive time and well, like I said in #8 (which is basically spreading into #9) I know when I need to decompress so I use that as an excuse to watch more TV and read (okay and, yes, eat).


10. Stuck In the Designer Decorating Dumps. Due to my above-mentioned addiction to HGTV, I also have a bug that's been eating at me for a few months now. We've been in our house for 16 years and about 90% of the decor has been the same for that time. So I spend a lot of time researching, planning, dreaming and wishing my house looked different. And then due to #9 and #8 (with a bit of #3 and #4 tossed in--especially the Dave Ramsey budget stuff), I basically do nothing. That's right. Nothing.


So that's it, my Top Ten Reasons for Not Blogging. And yes this post is WAY too long. I offer my most sincere apologies...now off to work on that everloving #3 and #4 again....


I'm linking this long list of randomness to Top Ten Tuesdays over at Oh Amanda's!

Top Ten Tuesday ~ Goin Back to Work Edition

I am looking at going back to work after 14 years as a SAHM.  My kids are bigger, they don’t need me every second of the day, we could REALLY use the money and it just makes sense.  BTW, don’t you just love my pic?  Cuz, you know, I’ll be bringing home the… you get it, I won’t insult you.

I’ve been looking for a job, and my mother in law has lined up a pretty sweet full time position for me, starting pretty soon.

Here’s the Top Ten issues/fears I have about working again.

1. I will be tired.  I know it will take an adjustment period for me to get used to getting up super early and being super busy all day.
2. I won’t have any free/me time to speak of.  It’s ok.  I just know that as soon as I get home, the kids/hubs will need something and I’ll have to be much more deliberate about carving out this time when I can.
3. I’ll have to wear makeup every day.  Ugh.
4. I will hate that alarm clock.  Guaranteed.
5. I worry about what the weekend will look like.  I know I’ll want to sleep in, but also want to get out and do something fun, but I have a feeling it will be a grocery day.
6. I love cooking from scratch, but I think that will be a little more difficult trying to pull together dinner after work.  Bye bye homemade bread.  (Maybe not.  Hope not.)
7. I’ll have to build up my immune system.  Working in a hospital may mean being sick.  A lot.  Just like teachers.  That first year is rough.
8. I foresee my coffee consumption at least doubling.  Maybe triple?  I usually have 1-2 cups. 
9. I am looking forward to getting to know some new people.
10. Plus, did I mention the $?  It won’t be rockstar pay, but I’m pretty lucky to find something right now, when nobody’s hiring and I haven’t worked in over a decade.

All you working moms, have any tips for me?  As you can tell, I’m a little … concerned.  And you SAHMs, enjoy it!!!  It’s wonderful, and I am thankful that I had all these years to spend with my children. But it is time.  So here I go! 

*This post could be way premature.  It’s just what’s on my mind.  This job is not set in stone, but looking more and more likely.  It’s not tomorrow, but it could be pretty soon.  I’ll definitely let you know when I know for sure!

Link up your Top Ten, or read others at OhAmanda!

 

Ten Ways to Write a Collge Essay

1. Know about the assignment for weeks, even begin research, but wait until the day before it’s due to actually start writing it.

2. Choose a day when not only all four of your children are out of school, but also invite adorable 3-year-old niece and 9-year-old nephew to join the party. Also at different times during the day, open your home to your other nieces and nephews (too numerous to mention & yes, they’re all adorable too) who live in the neighborhood.

3. Make sure your 5 year old is definitely still feeling the effects of a busy Halloween weekend and is generally just a grumpy tale.

4. Add a house that is honestly a WRECK and the fact it took over an hour just to clean the ‘work area’ (which of course had to be moved to a different area due to all the distractions).

5. Catch up on emails, facebook, and twitter to just be sure you’re not missing anything while you’re slaving away on your research paper.

6. Set a time to start essay and stick to it, then change the time due to lunch, almost done cleaning the kitchen, and finally due to another out-of-town niece’s visit (she’s 23 and I loved spending a couple hours catching up on what’s going on with her).

7. Volunteer to bake goodies for the school’s Election Day bake sale. Don’t just volunteer cookies or brownies, offer to make those AND some hot dinner rolls and challah bread for the second shift.

8. Drink a Mountain Dew and eat French fries and nuggets w/ the kids at lunch. Cover your fries in cheddar cheese, sprinkle the fairy dust of the food world on top (if you don’t watch Jim Gaffigan—you should), and then liberally douse with some ranch dressing.

9. Feel miserable about your lunch choice and eat salad for dinner (although go ahead and add all the aforementioned toppings…it helps my mind stay creative).

10. Drink a cup of coffee at 5:30 while soaking in the tub, have a hot chocolate around nineish, and finally another Dew at 11:15. Finish some semblance of the required 750 words at around 12:30, stumble into living room, make son go to bed (he fell asleep watching the Series), watch Jimmy Fallon’s monologue, go to bed. Get up at 7 a.m. and try to figure out what in the world I was scribbling at midnight….oh and have another cup of coffee.

How’s that for an endorsement for going back to school?

Awww..who am I kidding? I am loving it (except the research paper part and the fact I may gain 20 lbs from high calorie beverages...hee hee).

Want more Top Tens head to Oh Amanda's! The list on coffee inspired me this morning.

Top Ten Things I heart

Oh, you're wondering if I just became a middle school girl. Well, IDK. I was perusing around my reader today and came across ohamanda & her top ten linky. So I decided to participate.
With all the crazyness of my so called life right now, I cannot possibly be expected to come up with a well-thought out, witty and insightful post. I can barely put dinner together, so count yourselves pretty durn lucky that I'm coherent at the moment.
So let's dive right in before this window closes, shall we?

1. I heart heart heart Farm Town on Facebook. Weird looks from everyone now, I know. And at the moment I'm only getting the green screen of doom so maybe absence of it is why it made # 1. This is a happy little place where you can plant crops and have virtual animals that never poop or throw up on your new couch. Sure, your avitar cannot do normal things like bend at the knee or raise a hand, but mine is always smiling. I change her hair often, like my own hair, we're adventurous.

I have given this some thought.
I'm in the middle of a pseudo move that I don't want to make. I think that having this little corner of the web with neighbors of my choosing is like a little fantasy world. Now, the one person that I really want for a neighbor that I don't already have is not even on Farm Town. (Pam!!! Get crackin.)
But really, it is plain fun to escape for a while and chat with my neighbor/niece who lives 2 states away. Enough said. Check it out, you just may get hooked too. Watch out for the marketplace, though. It is full of unemployed beggars.

2. Twitter. My hubs is growing weary of twitter. He gets angry when people he's following tweet about mundane everyday things. HELLO!!! That is the whole point of twitter. I try to tell him this to no avail. I think I need to remind him of a certain hour spent waiting for an appointment in which he tweeted numerous random, mundane things that we all had to suffer through enjoyed.
I love the random everyday updates on people's lives. I feel like I know them better for having known when their toothbrush fell in the toilet or getting great concert tix or just the daily deep thought that one of our friends posts.
I have gotten tired of some people's posts and you know what I did? I unfollowed them. Simple as that.
Now, while I don't post my blog updates on twitter, (I really don't know why, it feels like shameless self-promotion ---as if letting people know that I'm avoiding packing for the move at all costs is really much better) I appreciate those big time bloggers who do. I love getting to their site quickly and adding one of the first comments. Now that's self-promotion, it just feels less shameless to me.
Ok, now I can't get the Garth Brooks song out of my head.
And as a sub-item in this category, I love twhirl. It pops up a tiny little window with each new tweet and a cute little ding on top of whatever I'm doing. I don't have to go looking when I get a new tweet it just appears. Gotta love that.
BTW -- this is my twitter.

3. Paperbackswap. I heart this site. You sign up, post books that you don't want and get free ones of your choosing in return. It is a little more complicated than that, but not much. I have gotten book club books, books that I have wanted for years, and some that just intrigued me but would never have spent money on. I can always turn around and post it if the book doesn't do it for me. And these days, with everyone tightening the purse strings, it's a great way to get almost free entertainment. You do have to send books in order to get credit to receive books, but the cost is under $2.50.
If you are a big time reader, like me, this is almost nothing compared to the coin we drop in book stores, new & used. I have shocked myself before that I spent that much on books, and in the same thought, excused myself because, well...it's for books. Reading is fundamental, after all.

4. Reading. Ok, I realize the last one was all about reading, but this is sorta different. I have previously stated my love for books. But I am thrilled to have passed on my obsession to my oldest son. Davy (13) is reading like a mad man. He is really into these sci-fi fantasy type books. Don't ask me too many questions, I space out when he tells me the plots. Half-bird, half-man, half-something kind of creatures. After that, my mind went on a wander. I really do try to engage when he's talking so passionately about his books. Half-birds and my thought process must be incompatible. The point is he is reading. He's loving reading. He reads in the living room, in the bed, in the bathroom (don't say ew, you do it too), in the car.
This makes me happier than any of these others, but I'm not rearranging this cause I'm lazy.
I'm beyond overjoyed that he has found the wonder of walking around inside an engrossing story.

5. The freezer. Huh? you may ask. Well, right now I am on a spending freeze. This is not voluntary, we have no liquid cash. Who am I kidding. We have no kind of cash. I've tried to spend monopoly $, it doesn't work and you could lose your right to vote. Don't be like me.
So I have an entire deer waiting to be eaten in my freezer. Dave likes to hunt, and with that comes venison that I rarely use. Fast forward to now, we have all this venison that I don't really like making, but on the bright side, venison is better than, say... salt soup.

6. Coming up with things that I heart.
I'm running low, folks. This has been a fun way to look around and think, ok I like that, but do I heart it? I really love that, but heart is a cutesy, sorta fun upgrade of like. To be fair, I do love #4, but I had to include it. Sue me.

7. The DVD player in our car.
With weekly trips that are equivalent to movie run time, this has been an absolute life saver. I'd like to rent newish movies for each trip so they have something new to keep them occupied. See #5. They're stuck with all the old ones we own for now. But we try to pull out ones they haven't seen for a while. Davy ignored the last movie altogether, and said after the trip, he felt like he had been reading for only 15 minutes. My spirit soared.

8. My dish scraper.
You know the ones that come with stoneware. I love to use these to clean off the ick from a pan before tackling it with my scrubby. Then all the bits don't get in my scrubby.
See, there is some methodical thinking in me after all. Who knew?

9. Packing my house to move.
Huge PSYCHE!!! (90's flashback)
If you knew me at all you would know I have been avoiding this like the plague. I have many good reasons.
I have WAAAYYYY too much stuff and it's overwhelming, I don't know where to start.
I don't want to be moving in the first place.
I really need a good marker for my boxes.
I'm doing it all alone, and that's not fair.
See, I needed to fill # 9 and all I came up with were excuses.

10. Brevity.
Could you imagine if I didn't have some self control, how long this post would be?