If you have leftovers... ummm... leftover...

http://www.sweetpeasandpumpkins.com/2010/11/baked-whatever-you-have-on-hand.html

This is from one of my very favorite healthy, kid friendly REAL cooking blogs. 

A few of my favorite things...

Count Downs...

Evan made this Santa a Rudolf last year in school.  The count-down to Christmas rings come off of Rudolf's collar and then are strung across the mantle.

Evan also made this snow man in school last year.  Below is a Advent "calendar" that I made with my scrapbook scraps.  Each number has a riddle inside that leads to somewhere in the house. 

I am thankful...

Even if I can't get them both to look at the camera at the same time, these two guys make my world go round!

Lake Effect

Yesterday, we had green grass.  Today, we have a foot and a half of white stuff.  And it's still coming down.  I hope I can get out of the neighborhood tomorrow!! 

PS.  Ryan was NOT impressed.

Number 1 Reason I Love Weekends

Excuse the bad qaulity... This was taken at about 6am this morning... the lights were off, the bed warm and cozy... and all three of my boys were snuggling and giggling.  What a way to start the day!!!

Oh. My. Heavenly.

I found this candle on a clearance rack at Target last weekend.  It is to DIE FOR yummy smelling.  And I usually am not big on smelly things... They only had one, I'm tempted to go to every Target in the valley to find more.

Late Halloween Pictures

Mostly, Halloween was spent with me chasing this:

And this:

I didn't get ANY pictures on Halloween itself.  However, the following week, my parents were coming to town and I talked Evan into showing off his Clone Trooper costume.  He threw in some kicks and other fight moves..... And the skunk, who did not understand that skunks did not have fight moves, would not stand still for his picture.  I ended up with a lot of this:

Which, I guess, really is what a skunk fight move would look like....

But alas... I do not have any beautifully posed smiling pictures of my cute little skunk in my cute little skunk costume. 

To quote Angela, *sigh. 

A Creative Sunday

Okay, so today was one of the first Sundays in a while that Mark was home.  He and Evan went off to get manly haircuts, which left Ryan and I to wander the craft store. 

I have had THIS bookmarked for what seems like ages.  (Okay, actually about a year.)  So, along with a few frames... because who can go into Michaels without buying a frame??... I got some supplies.

Instead of a foam wreath, I got a flat, MDF floral ring.  #1: I liked the size better, the foam wreaths were either super small, or gigantic.  B:  I wanted mine to be more "flat".  D: (name that movie) The MDF ring was 1/3 of the price of the foam.

I found a really old Tom Clancy book in a box in my basement.   I never finished reading it... and since I had purchased it in 1996, and had not picked it up since, I figured it was time to repurpose it.   Although, the dang high quality book was made with super high quality, archival paper, so it hadn't yellowed a day.  Whatever.  That's why I have tea... well, to discolor things and to drink I guess. 

So, with Ryan down for a nap, I set out to destroy the book.  First, I inked up the pages with some lovely Tim Holtz Distressing Inks, while I waited for the water to come to a boil. 

Laid out some paper grocery bags, and waited for a bowl full of Prince of Wales (my favorite tea, if you wanted to know) brewed.  

We (Evan and I) then wadded up pages, and dunked them... then laid them out on the paper bags to dry.  After we got a system down, we grabbed the blow dryer, and helped speed up the process. 

I wasn't going for totally tea stained, just not bright white like the pages were, so a quick dunk was all it took.   Washing paper is one of my all time favorite distressing processes.  It always gives a slightly rustic texture, even if you do it in plain water. 

Okay, so I also deviated from the instructions when I glued it all down.  No WAY did I want perfect little spirals!  1.  I don't have the patience and 2. I like things that look messy and haphazard.  It hides the imperfections better!   SO, instead of rolling the pages, I stuck the pencil down in the center, and gathered (wadded) the edges up.  Also, to fill in the little holes, I cut some of my pages into halves and quarters.

Also, I ran the distressing ink over some of the edges right before I hung it up, just to give it a little more pop.

And this is what I ended up with!