Getting real...like, really REAL...

I am participating in Not JUST a Houswife's linky party about getting real, because...well, I am getting real. There are so many bloggers out there that have gorgeous, perfect houses, perfectly organized rooms, precisely manicured lawns, neatly organized pantries, super crafty craft rooms, etc etc etc. That's gotta be just what they present in pictures right? I can't be the only one who says to herself..."I'll get to it."

Peer pressure, I tell ya. Mom Guilt, I tell ya. Two crazy boys and a busy husband, I tell ya. The lazy gene, I tell ya. The busy mom doctor appointment-grant writing meeting-PTO meeting-newsletter writing-birthday party planning-grocery shopping-meal planning-homework helping-fundraising meeting-OH and I got a haircut too :)-I tell ya. I can give you an excuse for anything if I try hard enough....

So here is what I am up against today...as is, this morning, as of 8:00am (and PS, I have a grant writing meeting at 9:30 at my kids' school that I should be getting ready for, but I am not yet) PPS, These are just some of the pictures I got before my camera died

This is Caleb's closet after I told him to clean his room a few days ago. It is actually worse than this right now.

Someone's random pj's that didn't quite make it around the corner into the laundry hamper... A bag of trash that has been in the hall for about 3 days and I just keep throwing things in it and never taking it out to the bin...OH and some of the kids' clothes hanging...

Clean dishes that I washed last night before tumbling into bed, but was too lazy to dry and put away...

Random stuff on the bar that needs to get put away in the right spots...OH and more kids' clothes hanging, and waiting to be put away...

Oh my gosh, look at that. MORE CLOTHES. These are clean, some folded, and none put away... My CSI Skills see a pattern forming here....

Oh well. It is what it is. I'll get to it, someday. :)

Coloring Easter eggs

This year, the kids chose to do a mix of techniques for their eggs. We colored a few solid colors, a few tie dye, and a few with camo stickers. The kids had a blast, but in true Caleb fashion...."This smells stinky!!!" So half of the time he wore a clothespin on his nose and the other half he put his shirt over his nose. Welcome to his hypersensitive sense of smell. Thanks Autism....

Laundry room blahs

Ok, I said it. I am totally and completely bored with my laundry room. It is the tiniest room in the house and it is the first room you see when you are coming in the house. No one comes through the front door....if you are friends or family, you come in through the garage (if the garage door is open).

Right now we have an awesome red Samsung washer and dryer, but holy washer and dryer Batman, they are big. So big that the laundry room door, doesn't close. The dryer door sticks about about an inch and a half too far for the door to close. Epic fail in the measurement department.

This room is more like a closet. I wish it were a closet. I wish it were either a closet or a big room...this somewhere in the middle thing makes it really inconvenient. Only one person in there at a time, don't try to walk out with the washer or dryer door open because you can't get around it, and there is this funky laundry rod that is so not functional.

Ok, enough of my belly aching. I LOVE that I have a laundry room inside the house, even if it is boring builder grade with fabulous appliances *wink, wink* So I am ready to change it. I need inspiration. I need ideas. I need a job! Scratch that, I have a job raising two gorgeous boys.... Dana at House*Tweaking did THIS to her laundry room. Isn't this beautifully simple???!!! Two colors and so perfect. And check THIS gorgeousness out at House of Smith's. This is so crazy good, I don't even have words....

But for my room, which is way smaller than these, I am thinking green and red. Green walls, with red and cream colored accents. Unfortunately, we have no green colored paint in our stash in the garage, and HOPEFULLY I can luck out and find a good green color in the OOPS section at LOWES. Your Oops is my treasure!!!! This will take some time planning and executing. Let's get to it!

Final Lego Invitations

They are finished. :)

I am really happy with how they turned out and Jansen loves that his name is in bold red type. It's the little things in life that make him happy.

Cute, easy, free....cardstock, hole punch, Word, and double stick tape. Obviously, I have altered the photo so that blogland doesn't have access to my address or phone number. You don't need it. We live in Texas...good enough, right?!

Mark that off my list. Whew!

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Ohmygosh....slap me in the face

Ok, so if you look at my last two posts....the one where I made a hair clip with a rhinestone I found under the seat of my car, and the one where I made the frame...you will see the common thread.

A rhinestone. For the life of me, I couldn't figure out where this random rhinestone came from under my seat. Um, hello?????!!!!! I was JUST complaining about a shirt that had three rhinestones fall off and vanish.

Wow. I could be a crime scene investigator for sure.

Anyway, the other two rhinestones are still missing so the shirt still a lost cause.

Now if you will excuse me, I am going to go practice my problem solving skills....

Blingy Picture Frame....

Tonight, as I was digging through mountains of laundry and sorting it all out, I came across this...


It is a shirt that I bought from Torrid about 3 years ago, and it is awesome! I love rhinestones, sparklies, blingies...if it is shiny, it should be mine. Unfortunately, I only wore it twice, because on the second wearing, 3 rhinestones came off and vanished. So in typical lazy fashion, I must have shoved it at the bottom of the laundry hamper.

The sad thing is, how long has it been there? Who knows! And I must not have ever gotten to the bottom of my hamper when I did laundry because there it sat. I promise...we are not dirty. I do laundry, I swear!

So I ripped off all the cute little rhinestones, grabbed a natural wood picture frame I had in a box, spray painted it white, got out my trusty hot glue gun, and went to town.



I LOVE IT! This is so me. If these were shoes...I would wear them around my house while I cleaned. And yes, this is a picture of the hubs and I last November on our weight loss cruise. Ah sweet tropical Cozumel, how I miss you....

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Updated Lego invitations

Don't you love when you make something, and then change your mind completely and then go in a totally different direction to make something else??!! Well, after looking at Jansen's invitations that I made last month, I decided not to use them. Good thing I only printed one, because the printer ink would surely have run out after 3 copies.

A friend of mine let me borrow her 1.5 inch round hole puncher to try making a few new invites...and it sat for a couple of days before I got started. Thanks, Angie and I will get the hole puncher back to you ASAP!!!

But the hubs went back onto graveyards, and has just one week left on his shut-down...and that is when I get stuff done! The boys go to sleep, the hubs is at work, and it is my peak performance, no interruption craft time...often until the wee hours of the morning.

Here is what I came up with for the invites....



We are scheduled to get our new computer tomorrow....Can I get a Hallelujerrrrr...so when the hubs gets up, sets it up, and links it to the printer, the other side of these will have all the party details pasted on white cardstock. :)

I like these much better than the other ones I made. Scrap that and move on, my friend.