Got Milk??

Cause we have the chocolate syrup!!!

It kind of looks like a haunted house outline!

Can you see in the left hand corner where the dog ran through it??

Leave me a comment and let me know what you think it resembles!

Mornings

I was really hoping I could sleep in a little bit this morning. That's just one of the many things I look forward to when the weekend approaches. I only made it till 7 this morning. The puppy was whining in his crate because he needed to go potty. He was holding his potty 30 minutes longer than usual and he thought he was going to drowned.

As I walked through the living room on my way to the kitchen I happened to glance out the patio door and caught a glance of the sun beginning to come up. I quickly uncrated the dog, grabbed my camera and ran back to the door. These are the few pictures I took. I know it doesn't really show what I saw. But it's beautiful enough!

I do believe this is another reason I love fall. The cool, crisp mornings and the beautiful sunrises!

Garage Sales

Before bed last night I 'googled' to see if there were any garage sales in the area today. Only two popped up and I was a little disappointed to say the least. I was debating when I woke up this morning if I would go or not after I got back from taking the girls to school. I thought back and forth on it for an hour and then finally decided just to go.

Honestly, I don't even know when the last time was that I have been to a garage sale? I have nothing against garage sales. What I think the whole deal is..is this....the few in my life that I have been too...I have never found anything I needed. Or even really wanted for that matter. My house was already filled up. I just didn't want to add to it. Now here is where things change. Since I have been blogging, I've come across a lot of really nice blogs where the ladies are finding other peoples junk and turning them into some really nice treasures!!!!

I took D and H with me this morning and talk about some real troopers!! We were out for 2 1/2 hours and hit 8 sales. I know that's not a lot, but they were kinda spread out and not a lot was going on. It's probably better that I am getting started so late in the season!!

The first place we went to had ALOT!! But in my opinion, it was also way over priced. There were a couple of pieces of furniture I would have liked to have but I didn't have the change for that. I did find a jackpot when it came to these frames! My intentions today were finding frames that needed to be painted, but I think I'm going to end up leaving most of these the way they are. The wooden one with the brushed silver was still in the bubble wrap in the box.

They were .50 cents each. For a subtotal of..............

$3.50

Next stop was a little garage sale that I almost didn't stop at. They didn't have much but I came across this tray. It is nasty dirty but I have a SUPER plan in the works for this baby!! When I say nasty dirty I mean nasty dirty!!! When I got everyone buckled back up and ready to head off down the road I could smell something 'strange' in the car.....it was the tray!!!! YIKES!!! The man wanted $1.50 for it, but I talked him down to a $1.

Running Total: $4.50

My next stop was AWESOME!! (as a little side note: I know this is my first garage sale day. I know there are probably way better bargains out there. But I am so freaking excited about what I have found!!!)

This is everything I found for $2.60!! How cool is that???

Running total: $7.10

The next 3 stops nothing interested me. I can't actually say that. I saw some things but they weren't anything I JUST HAD TO HAVE!!!

Then I happened to drive by the next one because I was lost and didn't know how to get back to the main road! oops!!

This little gem only cost $2.00. I have some big plans going on in my mind for this also!! It's actually pretty sturdy!!

Running Total: $9.10

Dakoda was dying for lunch and an ice cream. I kept telling her, 'Mommy has to make just one more stop. And then we will get your ice cream.' Poor thing, she sure was a trooper!! So I gave in and got her a corn dog and ice cream and then went to the next stop!

I found a couple of things I liked, but once again they were a little on the pricey side. ( I was out for deals today!) So, I ended up with this!! Honestly? Who can pass up a good book for $1? There's 4 stories in it and I haven't read them yet. AND I really like Janette Oake. She's one of my fave's!!

Then, I stopped in at Hobby Lobby. I mean, who can resist? I was that way anyway. I gave myself $20 today. I might as well use it all!! Right? I know, I'm dangerous that way!!

This is what I found. I need a place for the kiddos to put their backpacks when they come home from school so they are easy to grab when we run out the door in the mornings! So I am going to hang these in the entry way when I find a mirror to go above them. And hopefully a bench or some cute little chairs to go below! Total: $10.00

GRAND TOTAL: $ 20.10

Who doesn't keep 10 cents in their wallet for this exact moment!! ( Or have to borrow it from their 2 year old because you let them have mommy's change??)

I am very optimistic about getting alot if not all of these projects done this weekend. I have too. My in-laws are coming down next weekend so I will die if I have to wait until the weekend after that!!!

I can't wait to show you what I've done!!!

What Makes A Great Parent?

I found this article while I was purging some of my older magazines that I have been hanging onto... It's out of a Family Circle, the June 14, 2005 issue. How bad is that?? It wasn't even just this page I had...It was the whole magazine!!! Yikes!!

So anyway, I just wanted to share this. It's rather long.

What Makes a Great Parent?

By: Marc Parent

I was at our local mall with my two-year-old, separating chicken nuggets into small, chokeproof bites, when an older woman approached to tell me that I had a lucky little boy. "Why is that?" I asked. "Because you're a great parent," she said. I thanked her for the compliment and spent the rest of the day trying to figure out what she had seen me do that was so great. Pulling chicken nuggets apart, after all, does not a great parent make. Or does it?

One of my favorite childhood memories of my father is of an ordinary weekday when he came home from work with a bag of candy for me and my sisters. He explained that during his drive home he had heard the James Taylor song "Shower the People (You Love with Love)," and decided to do his best, on such short notice, to shower us. When I think back to my father's greatest moments, it's not the lavish birthdays or big vacations that first come to mind, but that late Wednesday afternoon and a single bag of orange candy.

The good news for any mother or father is that when it comes to time with your children, it's the small moments that make or break you. Locking in a legacy of parenting greatness may be an elusive goal; it's far easier to accomplish greatness on a more immediate scale and trust that your many small moments will have a cumulative effect. So with an eye on that prize, I submit this partial list of my own informal hodgepodge of brick-by-brick, 100 percent tested, small parenting greats. I highly recommend you test-drive any one of these today.

• Look your children in the eyes and tell them you are their fix-it-up person. Tell them that no matter what breaks, you'll fix it--and if it can't be fixed, you'll never stop trying to make it better.
• When they're in their pajamas, drive them to get ice cream. Do it on a school night.
• Learn the names of all their teachers.
• Tuck them in every night until sending them off to college, just call it something different once they've hit middle school. When you tuck them in, tell them something specific about how they impressed you that day. Make it up if you have to.
• Love them unconditionally, but make sure they understand that the rest of the world won't.
• You don't have to teach them how to throw a perfect spiral if you don't know how, but you do have to play chess with them and you do have to let them win.
• Tell them made-up stories. Use their names for the characters, and make them the clowns and the heroes.
• In every single situation, give them an avenue to succeed.
• Jump with them into the snow, the leaf pile, the mud, the ocean -- last one in is a rotten egg.
• After dinner tonight, giver your spouse a hug. Don't let go right away; let your children see you. Turn on the radio and let them watch you dance. Young children will try to get between you. Always let them get between you.

The nicest thing about small moments like these is that you can create them without the help of James Taylor songs. They aren't dependent on any specific occasion, place or time of year, and they cost next to nothing. You'll still have to see your children through high school unscathed and then into the right college (and find a way to pay for it). But as you navigate those waters, don't forget to keep the radio playing and never underestimate the significance of an unexpected bag of candy on an otherwise normal Wednesday afternoon.

I am far from being a perfect parent. That is not my goal anymore. I just want to be a 'Great' parent and I think this is going to help me slow down and enjoy my kids!

Strawberry Shortcake Sundaes

I had a really good day today, which is very odd for a Monday, but none the less it was good. So as a treat I wanted to do something fun for the girl's afternoon snack! We had some strawberries, of course ice cream and birthday cake that I didn't use, left over from the party.

I have been a real big bear for a while now and I just wanted to do something a little out of the ordinary for my favorite girls!

Here are my ingredients: Vanilla Ice Cream, Strawberries, a little sugar for my strawberries, birthday cake and some Reddi Whip!

I cut the cake into cubes and put it in these nice little sundae bowls that I NEVER USE!!

Today was there day!!!

Next I put a scoop of Ice cream on each one. Arranged some strawberries. Drizzled a little of the sweet strawberry sauce and put on the Whipped Cream!!

Here is the finale!!! Spoon in it all ready to eat!!!!

And we can't forget this picture!!! My little sweets getting ready to dig in!!!

Possom's Birthday!

On Friday the 10th my 2nd daughter whom I dearly love, but butt heads with constitently turned 6 years old. She has been waiting a long time for this!! I reflected on the day and what I was doing 6 years ago. Talk about being young and dumb!! I drove around with my 15 month old for 4 hours while I was having some pretty good contractions!! When we finally realized we better go to the hospital, we were only there 2 1/2 hours before she made her screaming entrance into the world.

I know this sounds horrible and I'm sure you wonder how anyone can feel this way. But I didn't really like her when she was first born. I know that is a horrible thing. That's probably not the way I really meant it. More of it was that I didn't bond with her right away. It took me almost 2 years to get over that. Looking back I do know I had postpartum depression. I was never diagnosed with that, because I was in denial and anytime the Dr. would ask me a question I would say I was fine.

I love her so much now!! Correction: I have always LOVED her. Now we are close and I am so glad she is my daughter.

She wanted to have a birthday party and invite ALL her little friends from kinder. ALL 21 OF THEM!! Now, I was not going to tell her should could not invite anyone. That would be rude! Even though I was wondering how I was going to pay for all the little goodies that have to go into those goody bags! So I decided to shave off some cost by making her birthday cake for her!! I always have these GRAND ideas that end up screwing me over somehow. But I was determined!! Of all things she wanted a Guitar cake! Because of course it had to be a Hannah Montana party!! Luckily I had seen an episode of Amazing Cakes or something, so I figured I could do this!

My BF gave me the idea to use Fondant. I have never used Fondant, had never planned on using Fondant. But I used Fondant!!! I am now a Lover of Fondant!!!!!! I have a box of it in my cabinet right now, just waiting for me!!!!

Surprisingly enough the cake only took me about 3 hours to decorate, now that didn't include baking time, but why add that. That would only depress me!!!

Here's the cake at her party!!

Will IT End??

I have been diligently working on getting rid of my clutter. I have been living in 'CHAOS' (can't have anyone over syndrome) for 26 years now!! In order to correctly follow the meaning it's only been 8 years, but believe me....it's been my WHOLE life!!! This is a mountain I am able to tackle because of Flylady. I had started to fall off the wagon, but since attending the 'flyfest' on Saturday and seeing that I am not alone has really kept me going! Plus, Taylor's Birthday party is on Saturday and I KNOW that I have to have the house in order for that! I work much better when I have a deadline!

Yesterday, I busted my butt and the kitchen is decluttered. Did you know that there is a top to the fridge??? I didn't know they always had one? I thought they arrived with a top and then it went away. None of my other fridges had tops? Only two times each. Once when we moved and and the second time was when we moved out! How crazy is that??
My counters are cleaned off, my ledge is cleaned off. Only the necessities are out!! Yay!!

I cleaned the Hutch off in my dining room and there is NOTHING on my table.

Wow! I was starting to feel like I wasn't getting anything done. But I feel alot better after rereading this!!

I've had my 15 minute break, now off to do more before I go get the girls from school!!