Halloween treats

With tomorrow being the first day of October and this weeks' cooler temperatures (low 70s in the mornings!!!!!!) it is time to whip up some of my kiddos' favorite cupcakes.

Each child gets a different job. Caleb is the one that likes to mix up the colored buttercreams, so he is in charge of the orange and yellow for the Candy Corn Cupcakes. Jansen loves to decorate, so he is in charge of putting the Milano cookies and M&M Mini eyes on the Mummy cupcakes.

Halloween creations....candy corn cupcakes

Mummy cupcakes....

Small table remodel...

So I have been looking for a smaller end table to take the place of my current end table. My current end tables are going to be relocated to the master bedroom as we redo it, so I wanted something smaller to fit in that small corner.

Here is what I found on Craigslist for $10. Isn't it cute???

But the finish was way too light, so I painted it black and put it in the corner. I like it for now. I am thinking I might want to crackle finish it at a later date. And then again, you never know. My mind could change...

Delicious Chicken Spaghetti

As you know, I am not a good cook. There are a handful of things that I can make well, and every once in a while I try something that works. This worked for my family, and when I get off this diet, I am going to eat it too!!!! In addition, it freezes beautifully...thank goodness.

So please excuse the ugly picture, but I took a picture with my phone before we cut into it, and then forgot to take a better picture with my actual camera.

EASY, YUMMY, and EASY again Chicken Spaghetti

• 5-6 chicken breasts, cubed


• 1 pound spaghetti


• 1/2 green bell pepper, chopped


• 1 can chicken broth


• 1 can Rotel tomatoes


• 1 can Cream of Chicken soup


• 2 pound brick Velveeta

In a large pot, cook spaghetti. In a saucepan, cook the chicken. Once cooked, add bell pepper, broth, Rotel, soup, and Velveeta and warm through. Mix cooked spaghetti and chicken mixture together in a baking dish and top with shredded cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

More Fall decor....

Honestly, Fall is not my favorite. I don't usually go all out to decorate in Autumn colors. Christmas, on the other hand....well....we border on Griswold. LOVE!

So I put up a few little things this year that will take us through Thanksgiving evening, when I take all the Christmas decorations out of the attic and start up the Doris Day/Barry Manilow Christmas medley music. Yep, I am awesome that way!

I hit up the dollar store this morning so get a couple of things, and picked up just a few Fall goodies. One of the things I found was this little gem....

I ripped off the twine and replaced it with a piece of brown ribbon that came from my Walmart purchase last week.

They tied that box together with some cute ribbon...and I am going to use it in a bunch of projects. I love to reuse the packaging!!!

Then I hot glued it to a white plate I had and put it in the kitchen. I LOVE it!!!


AND, today I finished up my mantle.

Something simple, but super cute. It passed the Jansen test, so I am definitely keeping it. He came into the house from school and yelled, "OH MY GOSH, I LOVE THE PUMPKINS!" That is all the validation I need :)

The raffia pumpkin was from the dollar store, as well as the pumpkin basket, and is mixed with the small boxed pumpkins from Walmart.

The "BOO" sign was made using some frames I had in the closet and by printing out the letters in different fonts. Simple and FREE!!!

PS I keep that picture up over my fireplace year round, because it was a pain in the butt to put up and it covers up some damage that I choose not to fix right now. Disclaimer complete.

That is pretty much all I have planned to do as far as Fall decor is concerned. Is it December yet??

New bedding?

Things have been busy the last few days. The Hub's birthday was successful! YAY! We ate dinner with my parents, had cake, and then while the kids were at school, the hubs and I went to eat lunch and get his tattoo that he has been wanting. When he was 18, he had a deer tattooed on his arm. Oh, to be 18 again, right?! Well, he has been wanting a cover up for a long time and he finally got it. Here is his homage to the Texans mascot Toro...

You can't even see the old deer head underneath, which is way cool. His artist, Jake, drew this out and in a few hours, it was finished!

Anyway....

Recently, we finally purchased a King sized bed, and are slowly getting used to it. Trust me, this bed is huge! And now our once large bedroom seems like a tiny closet with the bed and all our other huge furniture.


So our next project is to tackle this bedroom.
Yes, that is our bed with just sheets on it.


Yes, there is a massive pile of clothes in the corner.


Yes, the pictures over the bed are way too big for that spot now with such a huge headboard.

Now that you are sufficiently blinded by the awesomeness, err crappiness, err disorganization, (I don't have an adjective that can fully describe my feelings) of this room, let's quickly move on.


Little by little, this room will be changed. But FIRST! We need bedding. We don't have a comforter for the bed so we have been sleeping with blankets, hence the picture with just the sheets. Here are some options....
What do you think? I am leaning toward the one in the middle, but haven't committed yet.

Switcheroo...

I just have to write this quick post! Don't you love it when you can trade something you don't need anymore for something you do need???

Well, the hubs and I just purchased a king sized bed, making our queen bed and bedding surplus. BUT, my mom was looking to upgrade, so she took our queen mattress and box spring for her room, put our headboard and footboard with her old bed and moved it into her extra bedroom, and then gave us the twin mattress and complete bedding set that goes with it from her extra room. Now Jansen has a brand new set for his room. YAY!!!

So here is the bed and mattress we gave my mom and dad....

And here is the bed and bedding they gave us...

Good trade!!

Happy Birthday to the Hubs...(a little early)

The hubs' birthday is Thursday and my parents are taking us out for dinner tomorrow night to celebrate, so I wanted to make him a cake!!! YAY!! I love, love, love birthdays.

Oh boy, I had a whole different plan for this cake, but it didn't work out. That's a bummer, but at least I came up with something.

Did you notice that we are HUGE Houston Texans fans?????

Fall additions...

I ventured out today to get some supplies for the hubs' birthday cake I will be baking tonight, and decided to pick up two bags of fall decor to start sprinkling around the house. Payday is still a LONG 4 days away, so I really had to stop myself, or I could have gone CA-RAZY in the the store.

I left with my cake supplies, a $3 bag of acorns, and a $6 box of mixed glitter pumpkins. Little does this company know, that I will be using the items AND the plastic box and ribbon that the pumpkins were packaged in. I'm very, very sneaky!

So here is what I brought home....
I put a few pieces in my cloche...please excuse the glare from the window I had open..


And threw some acorns and pears in my Pottery Barn knock-off bowl that I picked up at a thrift store for like 50 cents...

And THEN realized that I am hosting Bunco next month and can totally make dice out of the plastic packaging all the pumpkins came in. :) I want to go back and get the box of mixed gourds for a garland I am going to make, and then I will have the match to make a pair of dice!!

On deck for the week:

• make the hubs' birthday cake
• Fall garland
• begin plastic box transformation to Bunco dice
• jute containers
• beaded pumpkins

I may be doing most of that this weekend since payday is FRIDAY!!!!! WOOHOO!!!!

Pictures of the birthday cake to come :)

Frame turned jewelry hanger...

I live in a home full of stinky boys, and even though I get free reign over the decor of the house, I still feel like there is not enough Estrogen.

Not today, my friend, not today.

I had a collage picture frame that I no longer wanted, mainly because you had to put individual pictures in each section. Honestly, why do I have to justify this...I was just tired of looking at it the way it was.

Can you see it...over on the wall to the left of the dresser mirror??? Yup, there it is.

So I painted it, and let it sit in my bedroom for a while. Then as I was rummaging through my bathroom drawer looking for the match to an earring, it dawned on me. I need a jewelry hanger...one that I can quickly see what I have.

Done, and FREE. Did I mention how much I love FREE? Um, yes, I love free. Plus, all my pretty, sparkly, girly accessories now have a home. Yay, Estrogen!

Houston Texans

Well, our Texans tickets came in yesterday and we are super excited!!! A couple years ago, we had the opportunity to purchase season tickets from a lady who was not going to be able to use hers that year. After that season, we were asked if we wanted to buy the seat license and the tickets...but it was only for 2 and we have a family of 4.

And by the way, do you have any idea how much it would cost for that???

You have to buy the seat license for 4 seats, then 4 tickets for each game (at over $100 each), then a parking pass for each game. With me being home, there is just no way to swing almost $8,000-$10,000 for that. Dang!

But I digress....

We just bought tickets for one game this year...Nov. 28 Texans vs Titans (TNT Rivalry). I am so excited, I just can't wait. The 6 of us will be going...me, the hubs, our two boys, and my parents. My parents and our youngest have never been to a Texans game before so we are super stoked.

Caleb gets the chance to wear his Super Mario Williams jersey again, (maybe it will fit him this time) and we have to figure out what Jansen will wear (jersey or shirt).

Here are a few pics from 2 years ago when we had season tix....maybe the season ticket fairy will drop some on our doorstep for the 2011-2012 season :wink:

NADA

Today I am doing nothing but stalking peoples' blogs. Maybe "stalking" isn't the right word, but maybe it is. There is such a wealth of information out there. Some of my recent faves are listed in the Support section on the right. You should totally click on them...all the time!!!!

The one I have spent the most time on today is this one......

Check it out, you won't be sorry!!!

The beginning of the mantle decor....

Well, that didn't last long. :)

Yesterday, I fell and sprained my ankle, and believe me, after a completely restless sleep and messing up the splint trying to get my jeans over it, my ankle is swollen big time. But I just can't sit and do nothing, even though I am supposed to be off of my feet.

Compromise! I hobble to get the laundry and throw it in, then hobble back to the couch to prop my foot up and fold. And as I fold, I stare at my mantle. It's blank. So sad.

So I am rummaging through the house to find a few things to start decorating until I can get out and about to buy some fall decor.


I think I am going to go with black and orange, and a little bit of white...here is what I came up with for today.

I just took a handful of my clear marbles, spray painted them, and glued them to the candles I had in the hallway. FREE! And cute. The beginnings of a Halloween/Fall mantle...yay!!!

Now, I have to go prop my throbbing foot up!! OUCH :(

Accidents happen

I doubt I will be able to do much crafting over the next few days as "graceful me" fell at the school and badly sprained my ankle. Yes, it is the same one that I injured a work a few years back. This time, as I walking, I felt a pain in my foot, but kept walking and then I couldn't feel my foot on the next step...fell, and took the skin off the right knee and sprained the left ankle.

GRRRR! As all you moms out there know, there is no time for mom to be sick. Things still need to get done, the house still has to run, dinner still has to be cooked, kids still have to get to school, and volunteering committments still have to be honored.

I am looking to be hobbling around tomorrow. But tonight is the Ice Cream Social and Open House at my boys' school. Medicine taken, and I am ready to limp into the school with the kiddos. Ouch!

Book wreath...

Ever since I saw THIS over at Dejavu Crafts, I had to try to make one myself. Thank you so much for the inspiration.


I didn't get out today because of the football game (GO TEXANS!!! Way to beat the Colts!!!), and I was so ready to try this since the boys were playing and I had some time to myself. Learning from making this one, I would definitely do a few things differently.

1. Cut smaller/skinnier loops. It would have been more tedious, but I could pack them closer together and get a more defined shape like the picture at Dejavu.


2. While I like the look of this one, I would love to try a much bigger one with magazine clippings for that big pop of color.


3. I would not use a glue gun. I burned myself about 5 times with this one either with the glue or the gun itself.

Anyway, I love the random, fluffiness of it. It doesn't have to be perfect...because nothing in life is perfect, no matter how hard we try.

Here it is, hanging in the niche in the entry way. This is a closeup of the loops, cut from a book that I have had for years and no longer wanted.

Completely frivolous cruise post!

Ok, so I just got an email from our cruiseline telling me that there are only 53 days until our cruise! WOW! That just snuck up on me. My husband and I have been planning this for almost a year and now it is staring us right in the face.

Of course, the email was full useful information: what to bring, how to tip, excursions, itinerary, etc. This cruise will be a 4 day cruise to the Western Carribbean, which is basically Cozumel. Josh and I wanted to motivate and reward ourselves for losing weight with the goal being 30 pounds each. What could be more motivating than the thought of wearing a bathing suit in a tropical environment? And it helps that we are only an hour from Galveston, the port for Carnival Cruiselines...so we don't have to pay for air fare! BONUS!!! (PS I have lost 30 pounds and am looking to lose about 15-20 more.)

The email stated that each passenger can only have 2 bags, limit of 50 pounds. UGH. Such limitations. Yes, I realize that it's only a 4 day cruise, but look at Gilligan's Island. That was only supposed to be a 3 hour tour!

I am a planner and this 2 bag rule really scares me. So I spent the afternoon pulling outfits out of the closet and getting everything packed in a trial run. I love to be prepared and absolutely HATE it when unexpected things come up. Murphy's Law, right??!!!

So here is what I have, planned out by day. Everything was purchased over the course of this year, on sale! My fave was the bathing suit for a whopping $15 and the khaki cargo skort for $4. Woohoo. Anyway, without further ado...THE PLAN!

Wearing this Thursday to the ship (with my FAVE Yellow Box shoes, Thanks, Mom!)

Thursday night at dinner (super cute Lia Sophia earrings)

Friday at sea...(Playing Bingo, slots, and swimming in the pool)

Friday night dinner (with my It's Complicated look-a-like clutch)

Saturday (Dune buggy tropical excursion, followed by parasailing in my $15 suit)

Love the purple terry cloth coverup (Thanks Old Navy!)

Saturday Captain's Dinner (Can finally fit in this dress I bought 2 years ago!!)

Sunday at sea (Coming back home, Thanks again Old Navy)

Sunday Dinner ( our last hurrah)

Monday debarking back home at 8am

YAY!!!!