Spring Apologies

It has been far too long since i've posted anything... and for that, i apologize.  Life has been busy with kids, school, work... you know how it goes.

So...basically this is where i live my life now.  Even you can even call it a life...

Even on my days off, i spend them thusly:

Ah... nice cold lemonade by the pool...and a ...textbook!?  lame.

i do find time every now and again to fit in a craft or two.  When the kids needed clay for a school project, we made it ourselves [and by we, i mean me.  i made the clay].

This is clay you bake in the oven.  I found the recipe here.

4 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup salt

1.5 cups water

Mix all ingredients in a bowl

Shapes will bake best if they are no thicker than 1/2 an inch.  
Bake at 250 degrees for 30 minutes on one side, then flip and bake 90 minutes on the other side.  Make sure your clay is dry and hard before removing [anyone who had dirty thoughts... you are dirty].
The shape can be painted after it cools down. 


i put the leftover clay in a plastic bag and am keeping it in the fridge.  i haven't checked on it in a while.... i'll let you know if it is any good still.

i have been putting flowers in [some of] my empty wine bottles.

We've also been experimenting with putting food coloring in the water, but so far none of the flowers have turned any colors.  The deep blue does look cool in the wine bottle, however.  

Let's see...what else?  My hair has been cut.  This is a ponytail waiting to go to Locks of Love:

Hair looks creepy when it is not on a head.

Mother's Day just passed, and it was the best Mother's Day ever.  :]  My wonderful son and my awesome phallically-endowed life partner showered me with gifts and made me breakfast in bed:

This is what love looks like <3

That's all for now... and probably until summer, to be honest.  Oh, life...

A Real Update

Here is the real update i promised you-- in pictures!

Made cold brew coffee-- what a pain that was.  i don't recommend doing making this unless you have a proper strainer.  Taping coffee filters to the pitchers over and over again took FOREVER.  Recipe found here.

The weather has been so strange that my front lawn thinks it's Spring.  The grass even started turning into flowers!  

Started my garden for the season-- growing some seeds indoors.  Waiting for this cold few days to pass so we can plant some seeds outdoors.  i can totally see why some people find gardening relaxing and enjoyable... but i can't stand having dirt under my fingernails.  i may need some better gloves... 

Here they are!  My little baby seeds!  Let's hope this gardening nonsense works.

i have some projects i want to try soon-- some quick and easy ones that i can do in between homework and homework... you know, when i'm procrastinating.  Here are some at the top of my list.

Click the pictures to go to blogs with their respective tutorials.

   

A Blog Game

A real update will come soon, promise.  But until then...

i have apparently been tagged in a blog game. i didn't know there was such a thing, but since i don't feel like writing my 8 page paper or other such homework, i think will play along.

The Rules:
You must post the rules.
Post eleven fun facts about yourself on the blog post.
Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post, and then create eleven new questions to ask the people you’ve tagged.
Tag eleven people and link them on your post.
Let them know you’ve tagged them!

Eleven Random "Fun Facts"

1.  i don't carry a purse.

2.  i hardly ever wear makeup, and when i do it is simply compact and eyeliner.

3.  i am [so] not a morning person.

4.  Coffee is my best friend.

5.  Wine is my second best friend.

6.  i rarely, rarely eat red meat.

7.  i never went to prom.

8.  high heels are not my best friend.

9.  i wish i could do something crazy with my hair-- like hot pink highlights-- but i am too chicken.

10.  i am not really a night person, either.  there is apparently a limited window 

where i am awake enough to be called a person.

11.  i am stuck in the 90s.

Questions asked by MyFriendStaci: 

    

Do you have a signature (or simply favorite) perfume? What kind is it?

i rarely wear any sort of spray or perfume-- but if i do it's usually body spray and it's usually Victoria's Secret something or other.

If you had to pick one song to be your ringtone–FOREVER–what would it be?

Easy. Baby Got Back. Duh.

Favorite kind of shoe?

Flippy-floppies. Almost a year-round shoe in these here parts.  Else you can find my in my Chucks.

What was your favorite subject? (any grade, k-12)

i never could decide between English and Band. i loved them both. And i kept going back and forth between wanting to be an English teacher and a Band teacher.

Do you enjoy exercising? Do you actually exercise?

i don't mind exercising if you don't tell me it's exercising. i like swimming and going on walks, but if you tell me i'm doing it for exercise, i hate it.

Favorite season?

That's a tough one. i like the spring as it is beginning to warm up and i like the fall when it is beginning to cool down. i think i will pick fall, though. i like to drive through the wineries when all the grape vines are starting to turn orange.

How often do you go out to eat? Where?

We go out mayyyyybe once a week. Probably more like twice a month. We will typically go to a fast food Mexican food joint, because i <3 California Burritos. i may or may not need an intervention. 

If you had to donate all your money to one charity, which would you choose?

I'm really not sure. One that donates most of it, doesn't take too much for overhead, and one that is secular.  

Name a detail that you always notice that most people overlook (nice paper, clean cars–something like that)

How straight people's teeth are.  

Most-used tool in your makeup bag? (You can tell I’m writing this for girls)

NYC eyeliner pencil. If I wear any makeup, it's eyeliner.

One cherished memory

When my son told me that i was "anoxious" [obnoxious]. He was 4 and learned it from Finding Nemo. i asked him if he even knew what obnoxious meant, and he said "yeah, it means you're tickling me too much and you're buggin' me!" Sometimes he's just a little bit too smart...

Seven New Questions:  [because 7 is my favorite number and i never play by the rules]

1. Favorite show as a kid?
2. Favorite show now?
3. If you could pick anywhere, [money hypothetically is not an issue] where would you retire?
4. Dream career?
5. Favorite meal?
6. What is your weakness when it comes to food?  [eg. coffee w/ too much sugar is mine]
7. If you could have one superpower, what would it be and why?

i only know a couple of bloggers who have yet to be tagged.  If you feel like playing along, by all means, do so and leave a comment so i can go see your post.

Heidi, Erin... any takers?

Busy Bee

So much for a craft a day.  Things are super busy with school. Coffee has become my new best friend. ...

Oh god... coffee.  <3

Just kidding.  Coffee was already my best friend.  But you knew that.

I have been able to squeeze in a couple of fun things here and there.  Snapfish.com makes it super easy to make picture greeting cards.  I made some Valentine's Day cards for the kids to send out with some thank you letters for all the xmas presents they got [....spoiled kids].  They only took about an hour or so to make and order.

Sorry for the small blurry pic; this is all Snapfish would give me.  

I'll post a pic after I get the cards in the mail.

I was also coerced into doing some scrap booking with my stepdaughter.  Can't resist requests from those blue eyes.  I'm glad she enjoys it.  It gives us a place to put all of our one million 4x6 photos.

I also got myself a Pinterest account and I've been adding some pins to that.  I have about one million crafts that I would like to do when I am not so busy.  I can't cram them all into one week during Spring Break, so I suppose I will have to narrow it down to a select few.  One that I must make [and it might need to happen prior to Spring Break]: MARGARITA CUPCAKES.  Oh, yes.

I repeat: Oh, Yes.  Image taken from recipe owner's blog.

Ooops!  Almost forgot my art projects at school!  Even though MATLAB is evil, it can make some pretty neat programs without *too* much trouble.  I made these in the computer lab:

 


And although the lab for this was immensely frustrating, the end result was pretty awesome.

I have two midterms and a paper due next week, so I do not foresee any fun crafty things in my immediate future.  Oh, well.  I do, however, see lots of coffee coming my way.  Mmmm coffee.

Craft Week: Day 2

So, technically, i did this project last night.  But i will make another one of them today.

We have about 749874654143518479876846435 pictures lying around the house, and no where near enough frames to hang them all up on the walls.  Plus, i'm getting really tired of all my frames not matching.

i was going through Pinterest looking for ideas on how to make a frame or some sort of photo holder when an idea came to me: cover a piece of cardboard with fabric and glue on pictures and buttons. And it just so happens that since xmas just passed, we have plenty of boxes left over.

Please ignore my cheesy tablecloth.  It is kid-resistant-- don't judge me.

First i had to iron the fabric.  Which i hate, and is also probably the reason i don't sew more often.  

Ew... ironing.  

Then came the hot glue gun.  i only burned myself about a dozen times. [doesn't affect the kitchen injury count up!]  

Hot glue gun is hot.  Who knew?

Glue, glue, glue.  i glued on the scrap fabric, some old denim, and some lace.

i knew i kept my pre-pregnancy jeans around for something [hint: not for wearing]

Before the pictures:

After the pictures:

Aaaaaaand.... up on my wall:

i was really pleased with how well it turned out and how quick and easy it was.  i will update later when [and if] i make another.  i have some pink fabric with flowers that is calling for me.

A Craft A Day

This is my last week before going back to school after Winter break.  : [  To make the most of it, i plan on doing a craft every day this week.   i really won't have time for crafty things [and probably blogging] for the next ten weeks, so i want to let out my creative side before i am trapped in the dungeon which is math class.

Today's crafty project was photo coasters.  i received these for xmas, so i really had to do was find cute pictures of the kids to put in them.  Which is more of a challenge than it should be.  My kids enjoy ruining every picture i try to take.

Some examples of faces [in emoticon form]:  
What i want them to do ---->  :D
What they usually do ----->    :|       :P      :o     XP     :(  
And of course there are the customary bunny ears, the traditional putting your hand in front of your face, and the ever-popular turning your back to the camera.

i did manage to find one good picture of each kid, including one of my puppy-baby.  Final product:

This is also probably last week i will try any new recipes for a while.  i received an email from a health website which contained this recipe for a roasted vegetable wrap.  i decided to improvise and use up the veggies i already had in the house.  Plus, i prefer my sammiches and wraps cold.  [that's right, i said sammiches].

i used romaine, celery, carrots, red onion, cucumber and some leftover turkey lunch meat.  I cut up all the veggies [minus the lettuce] into long strips.  This is what happened:

As George Takei might say: oh, my.

Then i drizzled just a bit of honey Catalina salad dressing on it.  

And then i ate it.  And all was right with the world.  

i want to try this recipe this week.  Cheeseburger salad.  It looks delish... i just wish the Pioneer Woman would post calories and nutritional info on her site.  [sigh]. 

  

Holiday Crafts

This year, the holidays were a little bit different at our house.  Finals finished, vacation taken, i was ready to do some crafty things with my kids and without them.  First things first, i wanted to put together a holiday card holder.  Some twine, clothespins and glitter-- and of course the cards our lovely friends and family sent us.

We also made cookies.  Lots and lots of cookies.  My favorite were the gingerbread men.  It was my first time making them and perhaps the first time i have eaten any since i was a kid.  They were also more fun to decorate because they were bigger and shaped like people.

Almost cannibalism, but not quite.

i tried to make a couple that looked like skeletons.  They weren't as great as i had envisioned, but not bad for an novice like myself.

i also sent out holiday cards for the first time in my life.  The kids added their own letters for as many of the recipients, and they helped me decorate the very plain envelopes.  We used washable markers on rubber holiday stamps.  The kids enjoyed making red Christmas trees and green snowflakes.  *facepalm*

Aaaaand... a picture of cleaning the ink off the stamps, simply because it looked cool:

Also for the first time, i made latkes for the first day of Hanukkah!  My stepdaughter totally got in the way helped me in the kitchen.  The kids really enjoyed the traditional festive food.  Oh, and by the way, if you haven't seen Eight Crazy Nights-- don't.  Has very little to do with Hanukkah, and that is 76 minutes of my life that i can never get back.  Anyway, latkes!

And lastly, i made some mini pumpkin pies for Christmas at my aunt's.  Remember the last post about how much of a pain pie crust is?  Turns out, 12 mini pie crusts suck EVEN MORE.  But they are tasty.

Oh, so tasty.

That seems to wrap up the holiday season.  Almost time to go back to school.  Where did my vacation go?