Tuff Snuff

It's been a tough week. When I say tough, I mean one of those weeks where pretty much all you do is pray. I've prayed for myself, I've prayed for my little family and I've prayed for my sister in Virginia and the little bitty baby growing in her belly. I've been praying so much and so hard that I caught myself accidentally praying to myself out loud in the commissary yesterday. Turns out, people don't like that, apparently it's pretty weird. Well, whoops!

But amidst all of this stress, and tears and angst and hand-wringing, there was a big 'ol ray of sunshine just sitting pretty right in my mailbox! It was from my other sister over at The B Hive She sent me a big box of goodies "belated, for my birthday" (even though my birthday was in August and she's already sent me one box) I know it's really because she's always just been that way, sweet and generous.

Who could not be cheered up by all of pinkalicous-ness? She made that beautiful charm bracelet herself! can you believe it?! I come from such a crafty family, my mom and sister are always cooking something up in their crafting "lairs" I just try to keep up as best I can...it's hard to do do! I just love the way she decorated that bucket...it came chock full of fancy shmancy pink unmentionables from Victoria herself...My FAVE!!! Isabella even scored, My B included some monogrammed buttons to fasten onto Isabella's hairbows, PERFECT!, some Elmo goodies (Isabella's new favorite) and even a couple of adorable shirts, I would have photographed those too, but she is currently wearing one and is napping, and the other is dirty from yesterday, they were so cute I couldn't resist putting them on her righ away! I squealed with glee when I unwrapped the little poodle ornaments...Where does she find all of these treasures? I guess that's just what B's do...they buzz around, unselfishly gathering up the best of the best so that others can enjoy the sweetness of their labor.

Thanks B! this box worked better than a bottle of Prozac!

Aunt G-G's Isabella fix

I was beseeched by my Auntie Gaye-Gaye to post more pictures of The Bella...

Pardon her puffy little cold eyes...we're both undergoing a bout of the sniffles. I decided to let her help me make a mini batch of cookies, (I figured nobody but us would want to eat our germ-infested cookies right now)... I needed some chocolate and she was grumpy, so I thought it would be a nice distraction. She stirred the butter and sugar for me...ok, so she tried to eat the butter...lets just say she definitely inherited my adoration of butter.

After our cookies were out of the oven she clapped her little hands with glee and goes "Yay!!" me too Bella, me too.

Candy Garland

I'm trying to fill up a nick-knack shelf over in my spooky corner. Yes, I know I'm obsessing over that darned corner, and I can't even promise you this is the last time you're going to hear about it...I really am sorry! I finally got finished painting last night and it's made a huge difference. A few years ago right after I had first gotten married, my dad made me a beautiful knick-knack shelf for christmas, it's made out of an old vintage picture frame, and I just love cluttering it up with stuff! I adore a good shelf full of eye candy. I've been having trouble finding cute non-gory stuff to fill it up with, I hate Halloween decorations that are bloody and gutsy. I ended up making my own little garland out of maribu and old christmas tree ornaments. I took those cheap glass ball ornaments and I boiled them in vinegar so that the aint came off and they were clear, then I filled them with the color of glitters of my choice, I shook them up a bit to coat the inside of the ball and I rather like the antiquish outcome. I made the little candies by wrapping up wooden dowel balls and squares of cardboard up in scrapbook paper, then I wraped them up in cellophane. I think I am going to make about a dozen more of these candies and pile them up in cutsy litle trick-or-treat bags for display!

Sorry for the picture quality, I had to use my flash-again. I don't know what's up with my little pink camera these days, she just won't take clear pictures unless the flash is on, I guess its time for a grown-up camera. Sigh.

Girly-Girl dust ruffle

I was out blogging about and I came across this amazing idea over at Gray Matters She used those cheapy dress-up tu-tus that you can find at Wal-Mart to make a dust ruffle for her little girl's bed. Genius! After searching madly for a few days I finally gave up...tu-tus must be a popular item here. I ended up just buying about five or six yards of tule, some satin ribbon, and some sparkly buttons. I used my hot glue gun for assembly. I don't think the finished product is quite fluffy enough so I am going to buy a few more yards of material and add it to my ruffle. Please ignore the ugly office-style carpet, it's standard in all military housing, but hey, at least I can paint the walls! I'm thinking...area rugs, yes lots of area rugs!

Other than that, it's been a pretty uneventful weekend here...the entire family is sick, so we've been hanging out at the house in our mu-mus, watching TV and cuddling The Bella. I guess it's not so bad...

Silly Cousins-the best kind!

For some reason one picture turned out HUGE and the other picture turned out small...drat. Ok, so the vampire teeth...well, that is totally my silly Isabella...always trying to get a laugh, and the adorable super silly face in the pink T-shirt? that is my sister's baby and Isabella's cousin, Sophia. Since these two kiddos have been born they have not gotten very many chances to see each other since we were stationed so for away...but I know that in the future these two sillies are going to be cooking quite a show for us all! I remember cooking up all kinds of mischief with my cousin Matthew...boy oh boy we used worry our poor mommas to death! There is nothing in the world like having a cousin your own age to play with. Isabella and Sophia were born just a couple of months apart...in the SAME delivery room! now that's family.

Two posts in one day!

I promised a friend I would hem some curtains for her...then she brought them over and to my horror they were made out of that HORRIBLE-to-sew-on sheer fabric that slides all over your sewing machine and bunches up around the needle...oh my goodness it was a nasty experience. By the time I was finished with them I wanted to pluck my eyeballs out of my own skull. In the midst of it all the necessity of a pin cushion became very urgent. So I stopped to whip up something real quick-like...I was just going to ball up a scrap of fabric or something but then I thought, eh why not make something cute? and so the cupcake was born! (I kinda like cupcakes... just in case you couldn't tell) It's pretty quick and amateur but hey, it made ME happy...and that's saying a lot when you're in the middle of sewing on 100% polyester. ( I am mucho proudo...my hemline turned out straight and pretty...I did a little jig and now I'm going to sleep. I'm pooped!)

Makeover

I'm trying to post this with my one year old riding me like a pony and using my hair for reins...so yeah. It wasn't in my mommy job description that I would eventually become a human jungle gym! :)

I have these boring paper shades laying around my house, I have had them for years and am always thinking to myself "I need to get rid of these" but today I decided I would paint one to fill the ugly white space in my spooky corner. I HATE HATE HATE using the flash....but I don't really have a choice in this corner since it's so dark. Now my shade has gone from drab to fab...one of my spooky spiders is already hanging out having a grand ol' time.

I'm super excited because this weekend is Tyler's first baseball game, can not WAIT to take pictures! ( he looks so cute in his little uniform! ) I will probably embarrass him in front of all his military-manly-man buddies...I'll have to be sneaky! I also have big plans to paint this weekend, my entryway and my spooky corner are still that terrifying shade of Military-Housing-White...Well I'm just going to have to fix that!

A spooktacular Hoot!

Look at the goodies my friend Kelsey sent to me! Oh how I have coveted this hoot owl oven mit! I went to go buy myself one at the NEX and they were already all sold out! can you believe it? but wouldn't you know it, my sweet friend was already all on top of that. Thankyou! I love them oh so much! Don't you just love the decorations she drew on the package? she's so talented!...don't mind the Hubbsy, he makes for a good prop!


Mom, LOVE the fangs you sent...thanks for the awesome fall festives!...my favorite part was definitely the acorns...I miss Tennessee :( These fang pictures are just for you! (Isabella enjoyed the fangs too, I had to take them away from her because she was chewing them to death)

I realized tonight after looking at these goofy pictures that I really did marry the perfect man for ME. He doesn't drive a steed,(more like...a family wagon) I usually have to buy myself flowers(in his defense, he DOES always remember the diet cokes) and sometimes he lets the door shut in my face(I blame that one on the Navy...it's made him "salty" hee-hee!) ...but at the end of the day, I'm grateful to have my best friend to do things with me like this...


and this...



I love my goofy man!!!

Every spooky house needs a spooky tree!

Last night I stayed up until the wee hours of the AM crafting felt, pom-poms and pipe cleaners into spooky things for my spooky tree. I made the black cat at the top out of cardstock and Diamond Dust glitter, she even has two green jewel brads for her eyes :) This space is right when you walk in my front door, and while I think it looks pretty good, I feel like it just needs something else...I can't put my finger on what it is though...there is just way too much white...anybody have any ideas?

Weekend project

Finally! my living room is officially painted the color of Martha Stewart's Hemp Rope. (Sorry about this picture quality...all these pictures were taken on a dying camera)

So this turned out to be a bigger ordeal than I thought it would...Tyler and I worked until 2:00 am Saturday night! We had to make sure we got the entire room painted while Isabella was in bed since the living room is the only room in which she can roam free. There's still some little details I need to finish up...you may have noticed my swag rods don't match...that is because every single KMart on the island is out of Martha Stewart silver ball swag rods, but I would much rather have mismatching rods for a few days than have ugly blinds showing. It feels SO nice to have a room in my house that isn't Military Housing White!

I know I have shown you a picture of my mantle once before...but I wanted you to see it with the old window frame hung above it :)

Meet Bob.

Meet Bob! my new best friend. My hair was getting LONG. It was so long that I was feeling frumpy and dowdy and it was taking me FOREVER to style...plus the humidity here is a real kicker. So I left the babe with her papa and off I went to the beauty parlor. I feel like I've shed five lbs! I am SO glad I decided to get rid of the mane. Now I can roll out of bed and voila! (or as my mom would say vee-oh-la!)

My spin on Hostess

You know those Hostess cupcakes? of course you do...well I'm pretty much obsessed with 'em. I can eat an entire box in one sitting, however I don't recommend it. Sadly enough my obsessions goes as far as contemplating on how I can make my own. Ta-Da. I cheated though, I used a Pilsbury Devils Food cake mix...laziness, PMS, the desire for quick results. I just wolfed down two while writing this and I can't wait to eat one for breakfast.

Filling:
1/4 C. shortening
1/4 C. unsalted butter
2 C. confectioners sugar
1 pinch of salt
1 tsp. of vanilla extract
3 TBS. of cold milk

Beat together the shortening, salt and the butter until well mixed, add your confectioners sugar, beat well, then gradually add your milk and vanilla. Beat until light and fluffy.

My frosting was so easy it's embarrassing, I like it though because it sets nicely but doesn't get hard.

Frosting:

10 one ounce blocks of bakers chocolate
1/2 C. of unsalted butter

Chop Bakers chocolate into small pieces, melt butter and chocolate together over high heat in a double broiler until smooth and creamy.

I recommend one of the filler tips from Wilton, my mom go one for me a while back and this was my first time using it, it worked perfectly. If you're gonna make these, I would definitely store them in the fridge, simply because of the frosting.

Yummers!

Every fairy has her day

Isabella needed new clothes. Ok...so she didn't exactly NEED new clothes...but it was time for some new duds...(Somehow I conned the Hubby into agreeing with me:) We started out at Carters...but because the Hubby is a smart man with exceptional taste, he balked upon walking into the store and then insisted we go to Gymboree. When we walked out of Gymboree with a few fabulous outfits and the added bonus of a pink tu-tu twirly skirt, all he could do was roll his eyes. Isabella does love a good twirl. (She is currently twirling for daddy right now, his smile reaches his ears.)

We went home and immediately tried it all on. After a few twirls and some dizzy staggering falls...she was expiring, and fast! Oh well, there's always tomorrow!

Field trip!!! destination: Dole Plantation

Ever since I found out that I was being "taken" to Hawaii, I have heard rave reviews on going to the Dole Plantation. Tyler and I have passed by it a few times on our way out to the North Shore but we have never really had a free day to just lolligag around. Well, we had plenty of lolligag time today, so we made our way to the Plantation! Now I don't mean to be a constant "Hawaii wet blanket" or anything...but geezy petes...what a letdown! I was expecting an all day affair of pushing our way through pineapple plants, picking our own pineapple, seeing some sort of assembly line...We were done in less than an hour and a half...we even tried walking really slow through the garden to make it last...shoot, I wanted to feel like I got my $30 worth! The garden WAS really beautiful though, full of tropical flowers and even a little pond...that was powered by a pump. We did get to ride a cute little train! We saw Pineapple fields, they reminded me of Arkansas, and we saw Banana trees too! Isabella was famous on our part of the caboose...she kept bouncing and dancing to the Hawaiian music and making the people behind her smile. The highlight of the day for me was the pineapple ice cream...but woe is me...it was POWDERED soft serve and not churned! not even any chunks of real dole pineapple...sigh!...maybe I just have too high of expectations when it comes to tourist attractions...I guess that's what I get for growing up in Sevierville Tennessee, near amazing attractions such as the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and the Biltmore Estate. All in all, we had a wonderful day, full of laughter, and that's what counts..........although I really was disappointed about that powdered ice cream.