Painted frame art

Oh how I wish I could find the blog that this idea came from...There are blogs out there that have the cutest frame walls and frame art...but one had the idea to put the frame around her air conditioning box....if you know what it is, please tell me so I can give that person credit!!!!

Anyway, we have this wonky wall that houses the AC box and a light switch. The wall is visible from the kitchen...too small for a piece of art, and the AC box and switch are placed so that nothing works there.

I had some frames that had broken glass, some that had the tabs on the back broken, and one that never had any parts. So after I saw that blog, I put this idea on my DIY list...months ago.

Yep, I just now got around to it. Probably because the kids went to bed early tonight because of their behavior (don't act all shocked...you know you do it too! I know it can't just be me.) and my hubs is on graveyards. It's just me and the lazy dog.

Quick, there is a free moment! Break out the Lego Red spray paint! Am I the only one that kind of likes the spray paint fumes? Anyone?

I LOVE it. LOVE!!! Red just rocks my world, and this little wall now has so much more personality. Red hot personality! Yay!

I can now mark that off my list and it's a happy day.

Today's Creative Blog

Easy peanut butter cookies

It is time to make some cookies!

Peanut butter cookies are a favorite in our home and I have the super easiest, most delicious, moist and wonderful recipe.

It will literally take you 11 minutes from start to finish.

You will need:

• 1 cup of peanut butter ( I use the reduced fat variety because I like the texture better)
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup Splenda
• 1/2 cup sugar (I split the sugar and Splenda to reduce the sugar content but still have some of that sugary flavor. You can use all Splenda if you wish)

Mix together and bake on a greased baking pan at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Don't forget to make your criss cross marks with a fork!!

This is so basic, you can tweak it to make it more or less healthy...whatever your heart's desire.

Linking to: Sweet as Sugar Cookies

Blanket and sheet tent

We might not have an RV yet, but what we do have is blankets. Tons and tons of blankets.

Alright, I will confess. I am a blanket hoarder. There is something about having a lot of sheets, blankets, and comforters that is, well....comforting to me. It only gets cold for a few months out of the year here in South Texas, but we use them up then. Each person gets about 5 blankets for their beds at night.

So my kids are on a camping kick. And what is the next best thing to camping in the wild?

Camping in the living room of your air conditioned house!!!

2 bar stools, 2 dining room chairs, 1 king sheet, and 6 blankets later....we have a tent!

The boys were excited to use all their blankets, use a nightlight for their fire, bring a few of their toys, have some snacks, and chill watching the Lego movie on Disney.

I knew there was a reason that I hoard blankets!

My personal wish list

Actually this wish list includes Jansen's wish list too.

This blog is a reflection of myself and my family...random as that may be. And this week, my 6 year old asked us why we don't have a trailer.

Jansen: Mom, I really want to go camping. Why don't we have a trailer?

Mom: Jansen, we have never had the extra money to buy a trailer. Do you mean an RV? The kind that has a kitchen, and beds, and all that?

Jansen: Yes. We saw them at Jellystone and you said you wanted one. Can we buy one? I want to go camping.

Mom: Well, how would we pull an RV?

Jansen: With dad's truck.

Mom: Dad's truck is almost 12 years old and only holds 2 people.

Jansen: What about your car?

Mom: I have a Honda. That won't be able to pull an RV.

Jansen: Well, let's buy a new truck.

Mom: Ok, we will add that to our wish list. How are we going to get the money to buy a truck and an RV. Didn't you want a pool too? Because Mommy wants an above ground pool.

Jansen: I can wash your car....

Evidently, the money is still coming from us no matter what!

So you know what? I am putting it out there. Maybe that will help motivate us to save/make some extra money. I can actually justify an RV to my husband, not only for the trips we can take as a family, but for HURRICANE SEASON, which has already started.

As family, we have had to run from hurricanes three times. Each time, we didn't know if our home would still be there when we returned. Thankfully it was, but the last time, we had no electricity for 9 days. We ate out of an ice chest. We didn't have a generator. We went to stay with my parents.

Should this happen again...it would be AMAZING to have an RV to live in with propane and a generator. Should our home be blown away...it would be amazing to have an RV to live in with propane and a generator.

My wishlist includes:

an RV

a new-to-him truck for my husband

a pair of jet skis

an above the ground pool with a deck

world peace.

Jansen is going to have to wash a lot of cars.....

Painted dog bed

And now I am finished with the dog stuff. Tatum has a wire crate in our bedroom and we have just been putting towels down in the bottom. That isn't very comfortable. I would be ticked if I had to sleep on a towel.

Well anyway, she needed a fluffier bed for the crate and I am not willing to spend any money right now. So I rummaged through the closets and found a less that fluffy pillow that no one uses because it isn't fluffy enough. I also came across a solid navy pillowcase.

Then I searched the net for a cartoon poodle and printed one out.

After a quick tracing, I painted in the cute poodle and called it a day.

She can now sleep on something soft and can take it with her to her resort next month.

AGH, I am not making anything else for this dog...but she is cute enough to make me want to...

Happy Father's Day...

Ok, so it's Father's Day. A day to celebrate good ol dad. I am so blessed to have incredible men in my life. Oh yeah, I said MEN. My very own dad and my very own husband.

Let me tell you a little bit about my daddy: This man is the father of one daughter...me. One. Only one. And this one was a difficult child to raise. Needless to say he was very proud when I received my Aggie Ring my senior year of college and we took this picture under the Century Tree at Texas A&M University

He was always the one I could go to who had a good reason and explanation for the decisions he made. While my mother would give me a hasty "you need to do this...", my dad always gave me all sides of the issue and then encouraged me to go with my gut.

He is a man who can wake up in the morning and decide to build a deck, and he does it.

My dad worked incredibly hard to support us.

My dad taught me to ride a bike by tying one end of a rope to my handlebars and the other to his bike seat and taking off without telling me to pedal. Basically he taught me how to fall (and then get back up)

My dad made the best campsites a living room has ever seen!

My dad took the time to teach me things, and not just do things for me.

My dad took me to the beach when he hated the beach and exclaimed how he "just could not express the extent of his emotions."

My dad and I share a ton of awesome genetics including our hair color, skin color, body build, knock knees, freckles, our general sunny dispositions, our fierce stubbornness, our desire to do -it-ourselves, our keen ability to shop, and our need to have things done our way or the highway.

(Although as I get older, I find myself morphing more into my mother....which is awesome, because she is unbelievably selfless, caring, strong, and super supportive!)

My dad is awesome!

And then there is my husband. Within the last 2 years of our 10 year marriage, we are finally starting to really see each other and love each other more than ever. He has grown ;)

My husband is the man who ALWAYS works extra overtime to use that money to take the family on blasty-blast outtings (Kemah, LegoLand, Galveston, Go-karting, etc).

My husband is the authoritarian and the pushover all in one.

My husband loves spending time with his boys.

My husband has more patience for Caleb than I do, and can usually explain situations much better than I can.

My husband kills monsters and repairs bikes.

My husband often reminds the Tooth Fairy of her duties.

My husband grills the best hamburgers and steaks in

town.

My husband rocks our boys' worlds and mine too for that matter. We love him beyond words. Hearts and flowers y'all.

Happy Father's Day to those men...who are MEN. Who aren't afraid to love their wives and children and let the world see it. :)

Personalized doggy container

Seriously, how cute is this???

Tatum is adjusting beautifully to her new home with us, and has taken an extra special liking to yours truly. Hey, I don't mind. Actually, I welcome it. It is nice to have a little extra estrogen in the house, even if it is canine estrogen. She is loving but lazy and smart but stubborn. Girl after my own heart!

After we took her to her first vet visit with our wonderful new vet (she did wonderful by the way), we realized that our vet has a boarding resort RIGHT DOWN THE ROAD from us. Literally, right down the road. It was time to book Tatum's first resort vacation while the four of us humans head to Legoland next month.

We are new to this whole dog ownership thing, and I didn't realize that when you board, you have to provide all of your dog's goodies from home and everything has to be labeled with her name. Why I didn't think of that, I will never know.

But anyway, I decided to make her a little travel box that we can put a bag of dog food, her food and water bowls, her leash, a few snacks, and toys in it.

No. I don't have a Silhouette.

So here is what went down:

1. Clear plastic container...or any plastic container for that matter. I just liked clear. :)

2. Print out her name in whatever font and color you want....I chose purple to coordinate with the container. The font is called "Airplanes in the night sky". I cut them out with scissors because I don't have a Silhouette. Oh, wait. I mentioned that already? OK.

3. Print out other images that you would like decorate with. She's a poodle, so I chose this cute poodle face. But the possibilities are endless. You could choose a bone, dog paws, a collar, a dog house...just whatever tickles you.

4. Modge Podge the crap out of it. You can use a sponge brush, but I didn't have one, so I used a paint brush. It still worked well. Put a light coat on the container and let it dry a bit until it gets tacky. Place your image and wording however looks pleasing and put another light coat of MP on it. Let it dry for about 20 minutes and do another coat. I used about 4 coats just to be on the safe side.

5. Lightly sand over it with some fine sandpaper or a nail file.

Such a cute little container for my cute little Tatum.

I also personalized her dog bowls and leash....Man, I want a Silhouette. It would have been so much easier just to cut vinyl.

We bought this dog for the kids, but I think she is mine :)

Linking to: Check out the WHERE I PARTY tab to find out who I link to!

Mini flag bunting

Am I the only one who makes something, and then rips it up and redoes it 15 different times???

Well again, this frame has been all over my house. For right now, it is on my front porch.
I'll probably keep it up until after July 4th, and then it will come back into my house......somewhere.

All I did for this was cut out several really basic flags with tabs. I wrapped sisal around the frame and tied some bows on the end. I hung the little flags on the sisal and then taped it into place.
It totally suits my design ADD....keep it for a little while, change it up and then move it around.

New family addition...

This weekend we spent the weekend with some friends in Houston and had ourselves a hippity hoppity time. We went bowling...all 4 of us, and then the next day, hung out and got sunburned at the splash pad.

On the day we left, we stopped off at the Houston Poodle Rescue. I have been researching and thinking about getting a dog for about 3 months now and never realized this place was only 15 minutes from our friends' house. So we decided to

make an appointment and look for a new family member.

The boys had picked out a few dogs they liked online, and we just assumed we would be able to request a visit with them. Not so my friend. This place was deluxe...and they really know their stuff.

When we arrived....the hubs and I decided our next vacation would be to this shelter. It was incredible! There were tiki huts everywhere, rock fountains with beautiful pools, lush greenery. It was a definite doggie resort.

When we checked in, the staff member called the women in charge of adoptions, who quickly and briefly interviewed me by phone. She then came out to meet us and talk to our boys. She asked them if we wanted a playful and excited dog, or if we were looking for a calmer and cuddlier dog. Jansen said the latter, and I said a little Thank You prayer. She told us the rules of visiting the dogs and we all walked through the boarding building to the back. They had a big tent set up in a gated area with patio furniture and dog toys. My boys were told to wait for us there, and she took us into the shelter building.

Boy, it was loud. She talked to the caregiver and told her to find us a dog that would suit my boys' personality....and she went quickly to "Carol". Ironically, that had been Caleb's online choice. The adopter took "Carol" out to my boys without the hubs and I for a few minutes, and then came to get us. We played for about 5 minutes and then she asked us to walk "Carol" on the leash into the air conditioned family room. We stayed and played with her for another 15 minutes or so, and she won us over.

We filled out the application to adopt and they told us they would groom her up a little and make her look more presentable. So we went down the street for lunch and came back to pick her up. She looked so pretty!

Jansen has named her Tatum Foster Powell (Foster is my maiden name and Caleb's middle name) and she was so good on the hour and a half drive home. We immediately started to house train her and then realized the crate we got her to sleep in is just a little too small for her. She can curl up in there, but it doesn't seem all that comfortable for overnight. (We are headed to Petsmart to take it back and get something just a little bigger).

So we had to rig up a system to keep her somewhat confined until we can get a bigger crate. I put down a blanket and squared her in using our luggage. She whined for about a minute and then fell asleep. I took her out to potty when the hubs left for work at 5am and then again at about 8am and she has been going consistently. No accidents eve

n overnight!

Tatum only wants to follow me around everywhere and then sleep for a while. She is the ideal lapdog...only barked once when the doorbell rang, and seems to be very smart. She can sit on command almost every time now. I look forward to getting her trained to come, sit, lay down, roll over, walk beside me on a leash, and to get her used to her new name and all our family's names. She is a super dog...4 years old and was surrendered to the rescue as a stray. How someone couldn't love this little one is beyond me. I am excited that we can give her a better life and that she can enrich ours.

We are now off to Petsmart to buy the essentials...new crate, shampoo, brush, dog food, treats, and febreze allergen reducer :) She has her first vet appointment on Wednesday to get her heart worm and flea medication.

Sweet little Tatum.

Recycled Tin Can Planter

In a bit of my cleaning sprees, (they are getting fewer and more far between this Summer) I found a few things that initially looked ready for the trash bin. But on second glance, there is something to be made here.

This tin can was large and rusted. Rusty and beautiful. With a quick bit of red spray paint, this rusty old can turned into a beautiful planter.

You can't really see it in the picture very well, but the rust gave the can some really cool texture that I was really diggin' after the paint.

I added a little bit of greenery I had in the closet, of all places, and it still needed something.

With the Fourth of July coming up, it was time to make a quick patriotic pick. So I rummaged through the closet, cleaning as I went, and found a few skewers and some card-stock scraps.

I cut a few stars, taped them over the skewer, and stuck it in the greenery.

This cute, free planter is now at home on our front porch. Easy peasy!