Two Dollar Apothecary Jar!

Or shall I say Four Dollars for TWO Apothecary Jars???

Wanna See?

I know they're not REAL Apothecary Jars...mainly because I made them. But I still think they look cool! And they were only two bucks a piece! BONUS!

I've been seeing a bazillion posts with jars and candlesticks and cake trays and goodie tiers and what-nots. So, I was cruising my Dollar Tree the other day and I found these tall vases and these short taper candlestick holders.

I bought two of each! Then I came home and grabbed my Krazy Glue. I ran a beading of glue around the rim of the candlestick holder and connected it to the bottom of the vase.

After a minute, they were stuck like...well...like glue! Still, I let it set upside down for a few hours. Then I put them on the piano!

But they looks so EMPTY! And since tomorrow is March...they needed to be Irished Up!

Much Better! Pom Poms! The PERFECT accessory!

I'm This Post up @ These Parties!

Giggles, Glitz & Glam

Made By You Monday

Sew Can  Do

Keeping it Simple

Miss Crafty Pants

Singing Three Little Birds

Ninth Street Notions

Krafty Kat

Not JUST A Housewife

DIY by Design

{Dot}{Dot}{Dot}

Funky Polkadot Giraffe

Blue Cricket Design

The Oscars...Our Style!

This morning I was sipping my coffee and reading the Funnies. Yep. The Funnies. And Family Circus had an awesome comic regarding the Oscars and the kids each depicted for different categories.

So...I am borrowing the idea from Family Circus by Bill Keane. You can check it out here! Too cute!!!

Ladies & Gentleman (well...mostly Ladies...but you know...just trying to be nice...) I am proud to present the FIRST EVER ANNUAL Oscars...Our Style!

Best Actor in a Leading Role goes to:

John...for his portrayal of the angry & ignored Middle Child. Don't let his cute calmness of this shot fool you...two minutes later he was a writhing screaming mess at Pre-school drop off. Only to turn the flood gates off the second Mom walked away.

Best Actress in a Leading Role goes to:

Kat...for her portrayal as Sugar and Spice and All Things Nice!

Best Costume Design goes to...

Kat. For her Ladybug Princess outfit!

Best Director goes to:

Kat! For her role of "I'm In Charge of Doling Out the Christmas Presents!"

Best Documentary goes to:

John! For his in-depth investigation on how to sneak snacks (Chex Mix) off the counter when Mom isn't watching.

Best Make-Up goes to:

Louie! For his work as Skeleton-ator 2000!

Best Original Score goes to:

The "G" Trio! For a brand new and fantastical Christmas song!

Best Sound Mixing goes to:

Kat! For her mixing of Multiple Octaves all during one long scream!

Best Set Design goes to:

John! For his work on The Great Hallway Traffic Jam!

And. Finally. The moment we've all been waiting for. The Best Picture of the Year goes to (drum roll):

The Three Cutest Kids in My World!!!

Button, Button, Who's Got the Button?

 When I was a kid, my great grandparents took care of me during the day while my parents worked. I was the luckiest kid in the world! My Gram & Paps were sweet, fun and I can still feel the comfortable love that surrounded my days.

One of my favorite things to do was to pull out Gram's old cookie tin of buttons and play with them. I'd sort them, line them up and run my fingers through them. They would make a soothing clinking sound...very Zen!

Now that I'm in Full Craft Mode I've been thinking a lot about those buttons, but neither my Grandma, Mom or I knew what happened to that tin!

Sad story, right?

WRONG! My mom FOUND the buttons (strangely removed from their tin) hiding in her basement! Memories flooded back! Does it make me too weird to remember a goofy bunch of buttons so fondly? I picked out my favorite ones and brought them home...

Pretty Pinkies

White & Red

The White Flower...And the Big Blue has great texture.

GREEN...the best color EVER! And in the middle my FAV...Green Bird

The Big Petal One

The Big Brown ones are off my Grandpa John's cardigans.

Nacho Chicken Casserole

Here's a Yummy, Quick & Easy dinner to make! It's become a family favorite (except for Louie who declares that everything is Gross)!

So maybe it doesn't look the neatest after I plop some on a plate...but I promise it tastes awesome! And please ignore the fact that I served this with corn. I can't seem to stop serving mono-chromatic meals!

Here's the recipe:

2 cups chicken, cooked & cubed

smashed up tortilla chips

1 can of cream of chicken soup

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

2/3 cup evaporated milk

1 can diced green chilies (I don't add these, because my DH

will spend an hour picking them out)

Here's what you do:

Put a layer of smashed tortilla chips on the bottom of your baking dish.

I just crumble them up with my hands. Then add half the cubed chicken.

Pause to admire my Mad Chicken Cubing Skills... Moving on...you'll want to mix your cream of chicken soup, 2/3 cup evaporated milk and a cup of the shredded cheese together in a bowl. Spread about half of this mixture onto your chicken & chips.

It looks kind of slimy and gross. But it's GOOD!!! So don't give up! Now just repeat the layers: chips, rest of chicken, rest of soupy mix. Crumble some more chips and the rest of the cheese on the top. You could probably cut down on the cheese...but we are Cheese Fans around here. Then pop it in your oven and bake it for 20 to 25 minutes at 350!

Nice Nachoey Goodness! Final step...ENJOY!

ps...try to serve it with a more colorful veggie than corn!

Sharing the Linky Party Love!!!














 



Kidz Explore

This past weekend we took the Kidlets to Kidz Explore. For you who may not have any idea what I'm talking about...it's like a little business convention for kids! We have gone in the past, but not for the last three or four years, so we were primed for an adventure!

And we had a great time! There are local business set up with games, prizes and (of course) a ton of information for Mom & Dad. Did I mention prizes??? Each Munchkin had a bag and they were stuffed by the end. It was like Halloween!

There was an area set up for kids three and under. John & Kat hung out there for quite awhile.

Bouncin' the Day Away. Actually, John doesn't look to sure about that. He's our cautious one!

While Dad hung out with the Littles, Louie and I had some more Dangerous Fun.

Croc? Aligator? I can't tell the difference! All I know is this thing's eyes were GLUED on me and it was creepy!

One of the Sponsors of Kidz Explore was a No Frills Supermarket. They had a long line of food samples. SCORE! Granola bars, Goldfish, Graham Crackers, Juice, Warm Rolls with Peanut Butter & even Ice Cream. Ummmm...yeah. Totally for the kids! I can't help it if my kids like to share with me!

Aren't these little bowls cute??? They came with all the goodies! They are the new "Breakfast Bowls" of the house! And I forgot to mention that we scored a Metric Ton of Kool-Aid! I'm excited to use it in homemade play-doh and I found a cool recipe that mixes Kool-Aid with Vaselin to make lip balm.

It was a good way to pass a Sunday afternoon! It, of course, cost admission to get in (Kat was free). I, being incredibly cheap  money concious kept my inner-debate running, "Should we go?" "Should we find something free to do?" But I'm happy we went & we'll most likely be back there next year!

Bleedin' Snake Cake

I want to share my First Place Cake at the Blue & Gold Scout Banquet!!! VERY EXCITING!

I don't mean to Toot my own Horn...but it's pretty sweet, right?!? (toot! toot!) It's obvious why I call it a Snake Cake, but where does the " Bleedin' " part come in?

Ahhhhhh...Red Velvet Cake! I'm going to assume most of you have seen Steel Magnolias...and ever since I did way back in 7th grade...every time I see an animal cake I think of the Bleedin' Armadilla grooms cake! And the best way to make an animal cake "bleed" is to stuff it with red cake! (don't judge...I've got TWO boys...it's all about blood and gross stuff over here!)

So I made up two cake mixes and baked them in bundt pans.

I think I watch too many movies, because when I see a bundt cake I think of My Big Fat Greek Wedding..."But there's a hole in this cake!"

Anyway, let your cakes cool down. Then I sliced each in half and fit them together to make a curvy snake body.

I shaved off a bit at one end to make it look more head-like, and a bit at the opposite end to make it look like a tapered tail. Then I went to town with my Star Tip!

This is regular Chocolate frosting. I planned on adding black food coloring to the chocolate, but I was out!

Green came next. Louie picked out the color combo since it was technically HIS Blue & Gold cake entry. Star Tipping took a long time, but the stripes ended up SO nice and neat. The bundt pan also helped by giving me clear line markings to fill in with color.

Last came the blue. I should mention that the blue & green frosting I used was a home made cream cheese frosting (awesome with the red velvet and chocolate!). Then I used two peanut M&M's for the eyes and a piece of licorice sliced in half for the tongue.

It was well worth all the work! And I knew what I was getting into because...

...I made one the year before for Louie's Birthday!

Linking Up At These Fun Parties!



Happiness Is...

It's been one of those days. One where you have to laugh or else you'd be crying. One where there isn't One Big Thing wrong, but all those little pesky things add up.

But then I saw this:

And I remembered that we are so Blessed. And that we have a home, and food, and clothes, and these three little monkeys that can be so naughty and so good...all at the same time.

And I felt Happy. And I felt Love.



Flubber

I'm finding that if I don't blog everyday, it's so easy to push it off until "tomorrow" and then (like today) I found that I haven't blogged for days! So my goal is to have a post every day this week...even if it's one of those cute "Wordless" ones where I just share the kidlets being crazy!

And Happy President's Day!!! It's an unsung Holiday (except for some awesome store sales!) that I never paid much attention to until having kids. It's a pleasing surprise to see how much my kids are learning at school about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, and many other Presidents, as well.

John's pre-school did a Lincoln unit and they even made a log cabin that is big enough for the kids to go inside and sit and read. They also crafted five dollar bills (early intro to counterfeiting???) and had a "store" where the kids were able to buy little flags. So cute!

So...because I'm lazy...I didn't have any special activities for our kids today (they both have the day off of school) that involve the Presidency. But I've got a GREEN activity. And...um...lots of Presidents are on money...and...um...money is GREEN! don't judge me.

There is this marvelous blog I found, Daily Pleasures, written by this wonderful woman, Amy. Reading her blog makes me feel peaceful. Really, you should check her out. I found the "recipe" for Flubber here, on her blog...and after viewing the photos of her kids with the stuff...who wouldn't want to make it?!?!

I quartered the recipe, because of an Elmer's shortage we have going on in our house! But it worked just great. Kat was sleeping, so she didn't get in on the fun. John touched the stuff with a pinky finger tip, screamed and washed his hands for about five straight minutes. Louie was my trouper, though, so I present to you...Louie & Flubber!

Louie is kneading the stuff together. It was at this time when I wondered if it would stain the table! It didn't.



AWESOME!!! I'll admit there are few photos of the fun, because I was having lots of fun myself!

AAAAHHH-CHHHHHOOOO! Anything snot/booger related is hilarious to a 7-year-old. It's good to know that some things never change!

ps....Please pay no attention to my son's pairing of tie-dye with plaid. That is just the way he rolls!


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