Could Be More Addicting than Cocaine

I signed up for a glass class at our local pottery shop, Clay Fusion. I was making a sushi plate. I saw the instructors samples and fell in love.  These are a few pictures from their website.  While I liked the idea of a geometric pattern, it didn't make me swoon.

 Then I saw the 'cracked' sushi plates.  I knew I had to do this.  A couple of my friends and I signed up and got started.  There ended up only being three of us in the class, which was a good thing.  This is my final result.....

 My picture taking skills are lacking, but you can still see her awesome-ness.

If you are wondering how I did it.

1. Start with two squares of glass, the base (black) and the top (red).  The top must be smaller than the base. 
2. Place the top inside some newspaper and hit it with a hammer.  Yes, not only are you crafting, but you can release some anger as well
3. Take your top, which is now in pieces and you put it back together on your base.  
4. Glue down the pieces and let it dry.  
5. It's fired once to fuse the glass together and once again, inside of a mold, to get the sushi plate shape.

This was so fun and I am totally hooked.  Now, I only have to purchase several sheets of glass, glass cutting tools, oh and one last thing......a glass kiln.  I'm sure Dee will be all for it.

Click here for the link to the older 'new' post, The Painted Walls.

Teacher Appreciation Day

My kids have AWESOME teachers and I always want them to know that I think so.  I try to help out in the classroom as much as possible and donate those things they put on their wishlists.  I know that being a teacher is sometimes a thankless job (just like being a mommy!)  I have seen these boxes posted several times and after seeing them one more time on my college roommate, Sharon's blog, I knew I had found my gift. (Don't look too close at Sharon's, they are WAY better than mine.  I'm not sure why I am even putting the link to them...except that hers are soooo cute)

 Leighton's teacher's favorite color is pink, so she insisted that she get pink.

 The assistant in Carly's EC class is a man and he LOVES UNC, according to Carly.

 The ones with mostly pink had pink interiors, the ones with green-green, the ones with blue-blue interiors (you get the picture.)

 And we can't leave out all those specials teachers, Art, P.E., Music, Writing, and Library. 

Carly picked out chocolate bars for hers.

And Leighton picked Mint Chocolate Chip Dessert gum for hers.

I do appreciate all that the great teachers do for my kids.  I know it is not an easy job, but I'm glad they have chosen it.

Happy Easter from My Peeps!

Target doesn't sell Easter shirts.  So what's a mom to do?  Use her handy dandy Silhouette and make some, of course.  I used  Char at Crap I've Made 's tutorial on freezer paper stenciling.  I designed and cut it out using my Silhouette.

  Ironed it on.

 Painted it in.  Two coats, please.

 Peel off the homemade stencil.    Add the eyes with the handle of the paint brush.  Lay flat to dry.

The Result:  Happy Happy Children!

And bragging rights, when anyone compliments them on their shirt. 

Because remember, it IS all about me!

Eight is Great!

Okay, it really stinks.  After today I am questioning my decision making skills.

Leighton had her eight teeth pulled yesterday.  She was very excited and a little bit nervous before we left.  When I asked her what she was nervous about, she said that she was afraid that people would make fun of her for having no teeth.

She did really well with the Nitrous and the shots and the actual pulling.  When she saw me afterwards I could tell that she was barely holding it together.  She ran to me and immediately began to sob. Well, sob as much as you can with a mouth full of bloody, saliva filled gauze.  I nearly started to sob myself, but held it together.  This is what I gazed at the whole ride home. 

yes, Mom, the light is red



 She was very uncomfortable with the numb feeling.  As it wore off she was much happier.  As you can tell from this still numb, half smile.

WARNING:  Yucky tooth picture ahead.

 These are the very large teeth that were pulled.  The second one on the top was one that was loose.  It is the regular size, the rest have very big roots.

 After all the numbing wore off and she started to talk and smile, I nearly burst into tears.  What have I done to this little girl?  She looks like she has on a set of those Bubba teeth.  Only this set cost me $1000 and doesn't remove.  I only hope that I have not ruined her self esteem. 

It is ironic that the reason we had them pulled is that she doesn't have room for her adult teeth and they would come in crooked and 'jacked up' and make her self conscious.  We had talked about taking out four and then waiting for a couple of months for the next set, but the orthodontist said that it would be less traumatic to have them all out at once. 

Well, are you ready for the big reveal? 

 I know!  I am tearing up just looking at this picture. 

She got up this morning and started to cry during breakfast.   She told me that she was afraid that all the kids were going to see the dark clots in her mouth and think that she had to have her teeth pulled out because she didn't brush.  I let her stay home one more day and I am hoping that she will want to go tomorrow.  I don't think I have it in me to force her to go. 

If you see her, please help me out and don't comment too much on how she doesn't have any teeth, unless you are like the amazing Mrs. Easterling who told her how she would have been so jealous to have had so many teeth taken at once.  She told her that she might even be the most popular kid in the whole first grade because of it.  I think I even saw a little smile from that comment.

The Wall

One of the things on my list of crap I want my dad to do while he's here to keep him occupied things I think would be fun to do with my dad while he's here was a flower bed around the front of my house.  My house is all garage from the front and I wanted to try to draw your eye to the front door area.  I thought that a large flower garden would do the trick.  I sketched out what I wanted and then submitted it for approval-to Dee and my mom.  Dee gave the go ahead, but Mom made some changes.  This is what we started with-YUCKY! and TRASHY! 

We decided on a brick and went to the Depot to pick it up.  They gave us the use of their truck for one hour for free.  So, as soon as they loaded it up, the clock was ticking.  We made good time on the road and then.....we had to unload.

That's a lot of rock.

We made it back to the Depot with six minutes to spare.  All that speeding as a teenager has really paid off later in life.

Side Note:  When we came back from the Home Depot, Jensyn had fallen asleep hiding from my mom.  I asked what happened and she proceeded to tell me that she had chased Jensyn all over the house, trying to get her dressed.  Jensyn was screaming 'Mommy dress me, Mommy dress me!' which my mom took as 'I want Mommy to dress me!'  So, since she knew that I was very busy and pressed for time, she was insistent that she would dress Jensyn and it would be fine.  Jensyn ran and hid and when my mom found her, she was asleep.  Apparently Grandma had stressed her out so much, she finally just fell asleep.  I very calmly explained to my mom, she was actually saying, 'Mommy already dressed me!'   I guess my choice in clothing looked too much like pajamas.

At this point we had to take a break to go to Leighton's Character Award Ice Cream Party (and no I don't make it a habit of sending my child to school in her pajamas, it was Pajama Day as well.)

This little one IS quite a character, I guess that's why she got in on the Character Ice Cream Party.  (or maybe because she's so cute!)

We came back and laid the first row, and then it was cake from there on out.  Of course, I say that because my dad laid the first row.  He makes everything look so easy......then you try to do it by yourself!

He did have a lot of help.

See, A LOT of help.  Wait, she isn't helping?  

 Dee got home and cut the last couple of bricks so they would fit into place.  He then took the wheelbarrow into the backyard with his helpers.   See, they are still helping.

This is what the final wall looks like.  What?  You can't see it?  That is kind of the idea.  It blends in so well with the foundation brick.  I am very excited to fill it with dirt and plants.   

UPDATE:  It only took us forever to fill up the bed with dirt and we have planted a few plants.  It needs a lot more and I will slowly fill it in.  Now I am itching to do the other two beds in the front yard.  Mom and Dad are coming to visit in October!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!



We thought they needed a little girly touch!



Two Down, One to Go

What do you think of when you see this smiling face?

Well, after her first orthodontist appointment, this is what I think of.

She starts out with having eight, yes eight, baby teeth pulled. Dr. Hixson did say that when we were all done, she would have a beautiful, toothy smile. I am going to hold him to that.

The Painted Walls

We have lived in our house for almost four years.  In those three plus years, I have only painted three rooms, (the three smallest.  And when I say small, I mean small: the half bathroom, the laundry and the girls bathroom.  I think I only needed a gallon per room, if that!  Well, the kitchen-family-dining area combo was in bad need of a paint job.  I had washed the walls down to sheetrock in several places, that wasn't very hard considering we have the worst builder paint EVER!

I decided on a couple of colors and brought them home.  The little paint chips are never enough, so I bought the samples at the Depot-LOVE them!  Well, everyone hated my favorite, so I went back for some different colors.  We lived like this..

 And this..

 And this...

And this..for quite a while.  I'm talking months, people!

 I still couldn't decide. There is such a range of lighting in this space, one entire wall is windows and yet, it can seem so dark in the kitchen sometimes. Once I finally decided on a color, I waited until Dee was away on a business trip.  He is a little like a cat and doesn't do well with either change or chaos, so it is best to do it while he is gone.  I did as much prep work as possible with the girls awake, but after the fourth time of cleaning caulking out from between Jensyn's fingers and out of Carly's hair, I put the girls to bed at 8:00 and began to paint.  This is what it looked like around midnight.  I HATED it!   But, I had just purchased five gallons and there was no going back.

 This is around 3:00 a.m.  I'm liking it better, but there is so much more to go.

 And this is 7:00 a.m.  I was just finishing the first coat and thought I would be able to rest for a couple of hours, not realizing the time. 

  I made the girls breakfast, took them to school and then got back to painting.  I didn't dare to paint through the night again, for fear I would fall off the ladder and the girls would find me in the morning, so I cleaned up and went to bed shortly after they did.  I was able to finish the second coat while they were at school the next day.  Dee came home that night and I finished the woodwork.  We moved the furniture back and enjoyed how clean the walls looked. 

 I started hanging some things up and was not liking my E-A-T.  I am going with a whole new scheme in the kitchen.  I am over the apple thing.   I still love apples, I just don't want them EVERYWHERE.  I have plans of painting the table and chairs black and thought maybe a change of paper to black and white. 

 That didn't do the trick, so I tried painting the shelf black.   There that's better!

Now, I just have to paint the doors, touch up a couple of places and find/make and hang up the rest of the wall decorations.  Oh, and paint the rest of the $*#%$#@* house, woodwork, doors, ceiling, outside shutters, and front door.  Tell me again why I want to own a home!?!