Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Pinkie's Picks - July 27, 2010

There's no real category for these picks. They're just a hodge podge of things I've found here and there.

Easy peasy toddler matching game from No Time for Flash Cards.

Make your own BabyLegs from BabyHopes.

Printable recipe cards from bellybytes.com.

Gain five pounds after eating this Chocolate Velvet Cake with Strawberries from My Wooden Spoon.  Hey, the strawberries are healthy!

Other uses for photo albums that I never thought of but should have from Wonder Woman Wannabe.  After you read this if you don't say "duh", I'll pinch myself.  No...correction...I'll pinch Hubz.


Monday, July 26, 2010

Home alone.

I was left home alone this weekend. All by myself. Just me. Party of one.

Hubz took Bean to visit his grandparents this weekend and I got to stay home. Visiting his grandparents was just a cover to go fishing. I'm not fooled.

I will say I was sorta shocked that Hubz VOLUNTEERED to take Bean with him. Yes, he did. I know, right?!? Shocker.

So I was left to my own devices to entertain myself. I was going to go see a movie on Sunday. I love going to the movies by myself. You get to see what you want. You don't have to worry about someone else enjoying the film you've picked out. AND, and this is the best part, you don't have to share your popcorn or Raisinettes with anyone. But I did not move my behind off the couch all day so I missed the joy of chocolate-covered raisins that cost $2 a box. Oh well.

That's right. I stayed on the couch the whole time. I did do some laundry so at least I wasn't a complete slacker. But that couch and I were best friends all weekend.

I was able to watch movies and tv shows that I wanted to without any unsolicited remarks from any fellow viewers. I didn't have to try and wrangle the remote control away from anyone. It was so peaceful. I think on Sunday I watched 3 movies before 1pm. Three. It was simply blissful.

This weekend was just what I needed to recharge after having a not-so-good week last week. It was nice to rediscover my inner slob. But I did start to miss my honeys before long. Thankfully, they made it home safe and sound. Now back to real life and fighting over the remote.


Thursday, July 22, 2010

Clearing out the camera - Part 5. The Final Edition.

Last year, my car was giving me a bit of trouble.  Okay, a lot of trouble.  At one point, I needed to drive something else back and forth to work while the car was being repaired.

Hubz reluctantly allowed me to drive his truck.  The truck had a name.

Betsy.

Betsy was part of Hubz' life long before I ever was.  He had Betsy since high school.  Betsy was beloved.  Mostly by Hubz only but really she wasn't that bad.

Like I said, Hubz reluctantly "allowed" me to drive Betsy to work.  In Atlanta.  Thirty miles away from our home.  Thirty miles each way.  After a fifteen minute speech on how to operate Betsy and all but hugging the truck, Hubz handed me the keys.

I had driven Betsy before.  Around the yard and stuff.  Oh yeah, I got to drive her to the end of our road once.  So I had this.  I knew what I was doing.  It was all good.

Hubz left for work and I know he probably said several prayers.  Well, maybe he didn't.  But he should have.

When it was time for me to leave, I got in Betsy, adjusted the seat so I was sitting almost on top of the dashboard, plugged in my iPod - seriously, what's more important than your tunes, right???  Then I set off on my way to work.

It was a drizzly morning, but nothing too bad, or so I thought.  I was tooling along, listening to my music, I think it was Beyonce or maybe vintage Madonna but don't tell Hubz that cause he told me not to play that crap in his truck.  But anyways, all was good.

I made my way through our little town and got on the interstate.  I even made it through the endless construction zone with no problems.  Again, I had this.

I had this right up until some idiot in a speeding Toyota Tacoma came barreling up on my left and hydroplaned right in front of me.

Crash.  Boom.  Bam.

I had no where to go.  Except until after he hit me then I had three lanes of traffic I went right through to the side of the road.  I was so very lucky that day because where this accident happened normally there are tractor trailers in each of the three lanes.  I don't know how I did not hit anyone else or anyone else hit me.  (Well, that's not true.  I know that I was blessed and that God was on the job that morning.)  That's the only way I can explain the fact that I did not end up under the wheels of a huge truck.  Sorry to be morbid but that is the truth.  The other guy wound up in a ditch.  Once I realized I was riding in the emergency lane, I stopped the truck.  Ole Betsy was still running and ticking right along.

Well, except for that busted radiator.  And no, the radiator has absolutely nothing to do with the radio.  Some people might get confused with that since the words are almost the same - at the beginning - you know "radia"-tor, "radio".  See, very similar.  Anyhoo.  Hey, at least my iPod was okay.  Hubz' wasn't as thrilled about that piece of information later on like I was.

Even now, looking at these pictures, I don't see what the big deal is.  It's not that bad.  I've done much worse.  I mean I've seen much worse.

 
When Hubz got home that night, he spent some quiet alone time with Betsy.  I know he tried to mend their relationship and he probably promised that I would never mistreat her again.

Blah.  Whatevs.  It's a truck.  An old truck.  We live in the South.  It's supposed to be beat up.  It's like a badge of honor or something.

So this concludes our trip down memory lane.  Hopefully, I won't let pictures build up on our memory card.  Or at least I'll destroy the evidence next time. 

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Clearing out the camera - Part 4.

And NOW for the continuation of Hell's Kitchen Cleaning Out the Camera. (I love it when they say that on that show.)  Today's episode is entitled "Part 4". 

Easter Morning, 2009.  (I know.  I know.)

(Oh gosh, I remember the "Ba Ba".)

Here Mommy, you can have this one.

But I'm keeping this Hello Kitty head.  Hands off, Mommy!
I said you take the duck.  The cat is mine.
For the love of Pete!  You're not getting the Hello Kitty stuff, lady!

Later on...
That's almost the conclusion of Clearing out the Camera.  We have one more teeny, tiny episode to go.  I'm not really looking forward to the next one but I think it's only fair that I share ALL of my decluttering with you.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Showering 'em with gifts - Part 2.

On Sunday, Bean and I went to our second shower of the weekend. This was for our cousin, Kayla. She is getting married in October and we can't wait for the wedding!  I love weddings.

I made another gift tower.

I took these:


And these:


And made this:


Thank goodness I didn't have to paint these or even do much decorating to these boxes.  I found them at Hobby Lobby.

Once the boxes where filled and everything was glue dotted together, I realized it needed a "topper".  My first idea was to put this adorable little baby toy on the top.

But then I realized I was probably rushing things a bit.  I mean, they are just getting married.  I guess we should wait until they've been married a few hours before we start asking about babies, huh?

Okay, next idea...I decided to make a bow out of cardstock.  I think this paper coordinated very well with the boxes.

Then I decided to make a nice big tag for the front.  I recently won this cute Martha Stewart border punch from Keren at Free Pretty Things for You.  I also found this image on Keren's website and used Picnik.com to add the names and wedding date.  (Keren, thanks for the punch!  I love it!)


I love giving gifts like this.  You can create so many different looks with these types of boxes.  I think it turned out so pretty.

Clearing out the camera - Part 3.

Good morning lovelies! Are you ready to continue on with the Great Camera Dump of 2010? Great! Here we go.

I should have started with these because as I am now looking at the dates on these, they are from May of 2009. Gosh,I knew I was a slacker but good gravy! That's pitiful. Oh well, they are still cute.

Bean back in her high chair. I miss those days of being able to confine her in that chair and make her spend quality time with her food. Now I'm lucky to get her to sit down and say hello to food.


*Ignore the product placement.  Lord knows I'm not getting paid for that one.

Can I hold the camera, Mommy?
Bean:  I'm getting sleepy.


Stay tuned for Part 4.  (Yes, this will be all over soon. Keep your seats.)

Monday, July 19, 2010

Showering 'em with gifts - Part 1.

(Another "part-er"? This one's not very long.)

This past weekend, Bean and I were invited to two showers, one baby shower and one bridal shower.

I tried to explain the whole baby shower concept to Bean but I still think she was expecting us to wash a baby at the baby shower.

On Saturday, we went to our good friend DeeDee's baby shower. DeeDee isn't her real name but it is usually what most kids call her so DeeDee it is.

I decided to make a gift tower for both showers and here's the one I made for the baby shower. (I apologize that I don't have any "before" pictures but I got to working on this as quickly as possible because I kept procrastinating. Me? Wha? Never!)

But I found 3 different sized cardboard heart-shaped boxes at Hobby Lobby to use for this tower. All of my materials for the towers came from Hobby Lobby. They really should change the name of that store to "The Place Where Crafters Leave All Their Money" but I can see how Hobby Lobby is easier to say.

I painted each box using some paint I had in my stash. I didn't have the pale, pale pink that I wanted for the top "layer" so I created my own with some white and pink mixed together. I put ribbon around the top of each box and put some little flowers and crystals on each layer. I recently read a blog post on making gift towers to look like cakes and that was my inspiration. I apologize 110% to the blogger that inspired me because I'm not linking back to them. I honestly thought I had saved their post to my bookmarks but could not find it to get their link.

After all the painting was done, I stuck the layers together with glue dots, and then filled the boxes with bottles, socks, washcloths, and bath towels.

Once it was all put together, I couldn't decide on the "topper". I tried it with the shoes and a bottle and then with just the shoes. I had to email some friends to get their opinions. When all was said and done, I decided on this:

I found two plastic baby blocks that actually came off of a diaper cake my MIL and SIL made for me for my baby shower when I had Bean. And I topped those with a little curly-q bow and some more crystals. It gave it the little bit of height I was looking for.


Bean spied these blocks on top and she said to me, "Dem my blocks?". Oops!

"Yes, they are", I said. She took another long glance at the gift and then said, "Dems my blocks", and walked off.  I'm sure she'll remember this and once DeeDee's baby is born, Bean will look at her and say "Dems my blocks", just so the new baby will know the true ownership of said blocks.

DeeDee loved the gift and I got a lot of compliments on it.  It all was very simple to make and put together.  I will probably do more of these again in the future because it really is a unique gift to give.

Clearing out the camera - Part 2.

We now continue with Part 2 of Clearing Out the Camera.

In January and February we had some snow. I know most of the country gets snow but we never do anymore. Or we never did. Bean just asked me the other night what happened to the snow. Now I can tell her it was stuck on our camera.

We all know I hate birds but I thought this was a cute picture.

Grown up.  Bird.  Baby.

The front yard.


February's snow.  February kicked January's booty.

Working on a snowball together.  Guess who the target was?


The next one turned into a snack.

And so did the next one...

Then they decided to make a snowman.  Bean's first snowman.  Awwww........


Oh wait, time for another snack...

Back to work.
It's a small snowman.  Listen, we don't get much snowman building training down here, ya know!
At first I thought she was trying to give the snowman a kiss but then I started thinking she was just hungry again.

The finished product with accessories, too!


Part 3 will be here before you know it!