Paintings

Remember when I was going to paint a series of little girls with fruit tangled in their hair for my kitchen and did this painting of Lemontine?

Well I got around to painting a sister for her. Meet Persimmalee!

If truth be told, I don't like her as much. I need to detail the persimmons more, fix her hair in spots, and I'm also thinking of giving her a beauty mark and a few tiny white flowers scattered in her hair. I don't know. I wish I'd have given her a more "impish" look, but the scientist thinks she's the older prettier sister lol

The home tour challenge, weekend recap, and pics

I've done this before, and it's great for two reasons. One, I love my house so I can talk about it all day, and two, it really motivates me to clean!

I will post a picture or two of a room in my home and answer the following:

What I love:

What I hate:

What I want:

What I need:

Something old:

Something new:

Good bargain:

Most expensive:

Most meaningful:

And my own added question, "Where is the bird?"

(I have one in every room of my home)

I'm thinking I'll post these challenges on Fridays so I have all week to work on cleaning...umm I mean taking pictures. :) Maybe I'll even add a picture of the room when we first bought it for comparison.

In the mean time, not much to report. My Honey bought a 20ft flagpole on Memorial Day and our house is now a landmark visible from any point on Loop 250. lol BBQ was great, and we watched a few movies including Mall Cop. If you don't know My Honey, this is him in movie form. He actually was a mall cop when we got together, and I was working at the Fuddruckers in the food court. He wore the official "Mount-me" Hat and took his job even more serious than the lead character in the movie, I swear! It really flooded back the memories. :)

And now for a few pics of my little cutecumber. Doesn't she look like a pose-able doll in the last one? lol

I'm not a hoarder

I actually get a natural high from throwing out excess items and decluttering my home, but there are things even I can't throw out.

Glass jars yet there is no where to recycle them here. I gave a lot to a woman on freecycle during Christmas. She was making gifts out of them. I hope she does it again this year.

Gift bags but I do reuse them. There are some that have been given back and forth in my family for years. I got a Mother's Day gift in one this year that had been given to me by my mom for a birthday and then to my MIL for her birthday. It was like seeing an old friend.

Bibles, crosses, and even the free Jesus movie everyone got in the mail. Religious guilt plays a role here and I have accumulated more than you would think. I live in the south and small bibles are even handed out at Halloween. lol

Photographs of anyone. Even a picture I got in a Christmas card of a friends niece I've never met, or a blurred picture of my cat's tail when you used to have to print the whole roll.

Eye shadow which I rarely wear. I've had some for at least 6 or 7 yrs and used once or never at all. Sometimes I think I'll start doing the make-up everyday thing, but it hasn't panned out yet.

Broom handles which I leave in the garage. I always think I'll use them for something. Maybe I can make a jousting stick and my honey can be an American Gladiator for Halloween. All I need is an awesome flag print spandex suit in XXL.

What do you hang on to?

Glitter crafts and herpes

I somehow managed to piss off the Craft Gods. I blame you all. Remember when I asked for suggestions about what to do with empty glass bottles? Well no one responded and I was forced to come up with (aka google) my own craft ideas. I decided to do little snow globes out of baby food jars.

Seems easy enough right? Miss Thang has tons of little items that come as accessories to her Littlest Pet Shop collection and our ideas were really flowing. She opted for a small dog figure with glitter and tiny dog toys inside. The scientist decided upon a little Lightening McQueen figure and some tiny road cones..with glitter. I found a little plastic piece of coral, added a few aquarium rocks and a tiny fish bone for a morbidly funny tiny tank...with glitter.

It started off fine, but when I sent my honey to the store for glue and distilled water, he came back with gorilla glue and although I knew it was the wrong glue, I opted to go on with the project and hope for the best.

Well in the end, the glue had foamed up and leaked inside leaving blobs of tan bubbly goo along the glass and stuck on everything. I'd show you pictures, but its actually rather disturbing. I had flash backs of watching The Blob. Poor hobo never stood a chance.

Anyway, you would THINK that was the worst of it, but oooh no folks. There was a giant glitter mishap. In the blink of an eye, The Scientist dropped his globe, shattering it on the kitchen floor, but hitting the giant container of baby-fine glitter on its way down. Somehow the bottle managed to hit the floor right-side-up and SHOT the contents out into the air.

It was a million times worse than what you are imagining. Glass, water, and glitter as far as the eyes could see, and apparently water causes the stuff to multiply. Glitter will be a part of our lives for a long while. (And no this isn't karma for the Wesson Oil incident of 1980!) Here is a picture to give you an idea. This is the distilled water bottle that was on the counter about 5 to 6 feet away from where the glitter container landed. I think you can click to enlarge, but if not, it is finely coated in a light layer of glitter dust like it's been sun kissed by a Vegas tranny.

If you come over here, wear gloves and a face mask. It's more contagious than the Swine flu. You WILL catch it and spread it onto your friends.

My friend Jamie says glitter is the herpes of the craft world and how right she is. You never know when you might have a reoccurring outbreak. In the past 24 hours I can't tell you how many times someone has said "You have something on your lip/eye/face to which I scream out "I KNOW!" before they can even finish. It's taken its toll on me, it really has.

Plus you all know how the game "Telephone" works and before you know it, a friend will tell another that I am 29 for the third time and trying to wear glitter lip gloss to recapture my youth. Of course it will morph from there and someone will be calling to ask why I didn't tell them about my new late night hobby, dancing under the name Sparkles.

Ugh, I suppose there are worse things to catch than "The Glitter" so I didn't get the little booger in trouble. It truly was an accident. I did sigh a thousand times while cleaning the mess and must have layed a silent guilt trip on pretty thick because the boy brought me breakfast this morning.

He knows I don't like milk, but apparently he thinks I have a really big mouth. (That's a ladle)Can't really argue with him there.

TV talk and fruit creations

Is it just me, or does American Idol contestant Kris Allen look like Rick Moranis in Ghostbusters when he sings?

I won't be watching to see if he stays because tonight is the Lost finale!!!

NOBODY CALL ME!

While I have a minute, here are a few cute retro fruit things I've got my eye on. Say it again with me cause it's fun- A few cute retro fruit!

Lemony fresh apron. If I get this, I am buying yellow pumps and taking pics! lol

Pear canisters by Orla Keily. In my kitchen colors, like they were made just for me!

Apple clip copying a fav Alexander Henry fabric of mine. I wish Cutecumber had a bit more hair!

Pear pin cushion. I want to try and make my own. I saw a pattern online.

There are also some really cute crocheted and felt fruit for play kitchens at Esty.com. The scientist plays in the kitchen a lot, but he would ruin the food in a heartbeat making "concoctions" that include water and other liquids. I'll have to wait until Cutecumber is a bit older to get my hands on these.

Ok, gotta go eat an apple now. :P

Haunted

In the wake of Mother's day, I am always haunted by past mistakes. Especially this year.
To my oldest:



No comments on this one. That is really all I want to say about that.

He gets it from his father

My son is so weird and quirky. Today I am making him clean his room after a weekend long of not having to do anything in there. (It was Mother's Day weekend and I don't want to waste any minute of it bossing my kids around or cleaning like I do the other 364 days a year.) I actually entered the fort he has under his bed and moved the toy box and to my amazement there were about 50 fruit stickers (think Chiquita banana) on the back of the box! I have to admit at first I was happy to find proof of the missing fruit, as I had started to suspect I was losing my mind, but then I realized he had disposed of the peels and seeds so it could have been a lot worse.

I asked him "Why did you stick these here?" and do you know what his answer was?

"Mom, collections make people interesting."


Trying to muffle a laugh, I told him he had to peel them off and throw them away because they were from "forbidden fruit" and that he could start a new collection in a book from fruit he was allowed to eat. It seems a little cruel after all his hard work snacking and sticking, but I am Mom after all and it's my job to be a kill joy.

He's been really great about cleaning his room ever since I made "The List" which I have taped to the back of his door now. I don't remember who exactly suggested it, but I know it was someone from my Mommy Message Board. I was getting extremely frustrated at the day-long event cleaning his room had become. He'd rather lay in bed all day than clean! It seems that it was actually a case of being overwhelmed and not knowing where to start, so a detailed list helped him tremendously!


Here is his list:




1. Throw out the trash. I hate to admit that the kid sips on Capri sun and Roarin Waters throughout the day and is really bad at leaving the empty packets on his floor, but I was sure to include a picture of that specifically on his list lol



2. Stuffed animals. My oldest lucked out because most of the stuffed animals they play with regularly have ended up in the scientists room. She instigates many "vet and pet" games, yet he is left with the mess. I tried to make it easy with a giant net hamper just for those. The two pictured are actually animals he owns. (Monkey M and Bacon)



3. Cars and tracks. This includes Shake and Go, Hot Wheels, Wooden train set, Lincoln Log track set, Match box, Transformers, and any other cars. This is probably 70% of his toys right there.



4. Shelves. He has certain things on display. Mostly things he plays with regularly that would get lost or broken in the toy box. The weird thing pictured with Buzz is an odd toy collection he started after finding one in a big box at a thrift shop. He calls them Googles but I really have no idea what they are. He has one large one and it is ANNOYING! It's the first thing he looks for at garage sales lol



5. clothes- He's almost as bad as the girls as far as leaving clothes on the floor. His usual uniform is a pair of boxer briefs ONLY, so most clothes are worn for a second and tossed on the floor as soon as we come home. I'm trying to work on that habit before school starts. I can just see the notes he'll bring home.



6. He has a ton of tiny toys that he keeps in an old diaper wipes box. He also has a ton of tools so I paired the two together here. Did you know he actually pressed a plastic screwdriver into a screw head so hard that it made the impression and proceeded to take apart his bed when he was about 3yrs old? True story.



7. Legos. Every shape and every size. The toy that is worth every penny.



8. That is actually the toy box he owns. This means everything that doesn't have it's own home needs to be thrown in here. Once a month or so, I dump it out and go through it. I'll spare you details of things I have found. Boys are DISGUSTING!



9. The Fort. His bed is a loft bed and under it he keeps most of his larger toys like the garbage truck pictured and other cars, robots, and a million and one flash lights. They each have their place though. That is actually the picture of his bed when I saw it on Craigslist.



10. Come get a hug. I am big on rewarding good behavior, showing love, and free stuff. Perfect!



Funny, as I am posting this, thinking I may help other moms who struggle in this area, feeling pretty proud of myself as a parent, I turn around to see my son watching Sponge bob in the den, eating my cookies and avoiding his room. Hmm, and then I realize I'm in here typing this while I should be cleaning the kitchen. I guess he doesn't get everything from his fathers side. :P

Creepy crawlers

Honey called me to say he was almost home. I went to unlock the door so he could just walk in and I took a quick look out of the peep hole in my door. AHHHHH! It was like a scene out of a horror film! I showed the scientist and instead of being terrified he suggested taking a picture. So here you go:

And just as I am typing this, my honey calls me outside to take a look at something by our back door. I'm surprised my honey even saw it. It's so little, but you could tell by the way it was moving, that it was not a worm. It is a tiny baby snake! (anyone know what kind?) It's really shiny and almost purple, with little black eyes. It's about 5 inches long. Ughhh. You know where there is one baby there might be...nope. I'm not even going to think about it!

One more creepy crawler for you:

I'm going to end this here. I feel things crawling on me. *shiver*

Oh no she didn't!

Oh yes she just totally did! I got dumped by my daughter on Mother's Day for a party with an air bouncer!
Meh, who am I kidding. I'd dump my mom for one too, if I was invited. :P

stupid blow up toy...

Torso prayers, money, and hidden messages

Well, if you know me at all, I've probably talked your ear off this week. I am so talkative lately and figured I'd bring that energy on over to the ol' blog.

We've had a streak of good luck around here. My honey got an unexpected bonus in the mail the other day, and being the pessimist I always am, I made him call his boss to make sure it was legit and it was! Not only that, but it's actually the first of a new quarterly bonus.

I spent over $100 on myself buying great clothing (by great, I mean not at Target or the sale rack at Ross). I was not depressed shopping in the fat girl section. Actually the second I bent over in the new jeans and didn't feel the waist trying to slice my midsection in half, it was love.

My size was hard to locate in some stores since I had to decipher all kinds of politically correct section names (women's, plus etc) and at Lane Bryant I suddenly became 5 sizes smaller and had to figure out what color code I am. Not to mention, I'm tall and apparently most fatties are shorties. I started to get frustrated over my hard-to-fit, oddly long waist, until I happened upon a few shirts that were wider across than they were long and then I found myself saying a quick prayer thanking God that I have a waist at all. Yikes!

Anyway, back to our good luck. Honey and I have an on going joke. I always say, "I wish we would hurry up and win that lotto already" to which he replies "I think we actually have to play it first."

Wow, that's some inside joke and I'm sure you're glad to be in on it, but the point is, he actually did stop in and get a scratch off and won $200! So, aside from constant nightmares that something horrible is going to happen, (when things are going great, we pessimists tend to feel impending doom) things here are going pretty good!

I'm excited about Mother's day.(fiesta ware) I hope my honey knows (persimmon color) what I would like to get this year (check ebay). The kids usually make me (I really like the sugar bowl) awesome cards (and the small saucer) and some cute handmade gifts. (or go for the pitcher and make me cry a little) Nothing warms the heart like (fiesta ware) your children can.

Speaking of kids, the scientist (who is officially enrolled for Kindergarten next school year!) is begging me to play a game of Sorry. I can't wait to see what new rules we have this time. You know, the rules that only work in his favor. The child shows no mercy!

Still cleaning, turtle jars, and epiphanies

Well everything is cleared out of the rooms that did not belong there and it's now all accumulated in my bedroom! So aside from the mountains of junk in there that need organizing, my house is decluttered and feeling clean. I love out-with-the-old ALMOST as much as I love in-with-the-new. :)

Good things are happening in my life. I feel like I have worked very hard to make good choices and I'm reaping those benefits. I'm still fat, need a routine, and more friends, but the people that I hold close are awesome, and overall my life is "purt-neer" perfect.


You know the point of this blog is to watch me grow and branch out of the house, but when Easter came along, I looked around and realized how great my family is all over again. No wonder they are my best friends and I don't feel the need to leave home much. I know in time they will all be living their own lives and I need some socialization so that I don't wind up rocking in the fetal position with a horrible case of "Empty-nest-syndrome", but I don't feel like a social outcast for wanting to make the most of being home with my family any more. I think I was panicking over the idea of needing to get out more, more than panicking over actually needing to get out.


I think I'm going to deal with that as needed and for now, I just don't NEED to have a girls night out. I'm sort of over that for now. I'm sure I'll need that when I'm less fulfilled at home, but for now, I'm good. :) Gotta love spring and all it's epiphanies and new beginnings. But don't mistake epiphanies for "changing overnight" right mom lol.

Anyway here is some Brief and Random News:


-repainted the Scientists room. It's currently gray and boring, but he has requested a robot factory/science lab. You know I'll post pictures once that odd combination hits the walls lol.



-My honey brought me flowers for no reason! And our night life is finally picking up now that Cutecumber is sleeping out of our bed on a more regular basis.



-Bought Miss Thang a new webkinz (Jack Russel) and one for me(Zebra), and even got a little one for a friend of hers that stayed over this weekend (a bear). Really sweet girl too. Here they are in the pool yesterday. I promise Miss Thang doesn't have painted on hair and is not missing arms. Her friend does indeed have eyelashes, and arms as well. The Scientist is actually a floating head as pictured. :P





-Remembered I suck at singstar, but man I can get the scores! I always think I know a song better than I actually do. "It's tricky to rock a rhyme, to rock a rhyme that's right on time. It's tricky, tr-tr-tr-tricky trrrrrrrrrrricky" Yeah... then what? lol


-Grew a turtle in a giant pickle jar. It was one of those things that starts out small and grows over the span of a few days. As a kid, my brother had one that was a Gremlin. Wonder where that is now? Land fill? Donation box shipped to Africa? half eaten by sea life on the bottom of the ocean floor?



-My honey took some vacation time and did a bunch of "honey-dos"! YAY


-Heard Susan Boyle has the Swine Flu (I watched a little tv this week lol)


-Cutecumber is crawling!





Oh I added a new Song of the Month (see righthand side), and you can find the video on youtube, but apparently she's picky about letting people embed it, so no motion to mine.
I chose it because 1) it's catchy, 2)I read a bit about her on the net and she's rather interesting, and 3) as it was playing in the car repeating "poker face", my son was singing along and then says, "That's not nice is it mom? We don't poke peoples faces." :P


I'll try and post more so I don't bombard you with one LONG entry again. I'd rather nickle and dime you to death with little nothings everyday.