Still Time for the Giveaway

Updated: 09/30/10 @ 8:30 pm EST
Drawing Closed.  Check back tomorrow's post for the winner.

-Today’s the last day to enter the sand dollar ornaments giveaway.  If you haven’t done so, click here.

  

I’ll be posting the winner tomorrow.  Good luck, everybody! I

Yanet  IIIII

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Oh, For The Love of Captain Underpants!

In one of my Freecycle runs, I came across children’s books.  One of the books was Captain Underpants and the Attack of the Talking Toilets.  SKB #1 devoured the book!  I couldn’t believe he had read it from cover to cover.  SKB #1 REALLY disliked reading so when I saw his interest in a book enough to read it, I immediately went looking for more.  When I found out it was a series, it was like hitting a Reading Rainbow jackpot!

I was so happy that he wanted to read, I could have bought him 20,000 of them.  To my astonishment, while reading the reviews, not every parent shares the love I have for the series of a little bit, kind of, gross books.  Ok, so there are characters like Professor Poopypants, Bionic Booger Boy, and Wicked Wedgie Woman but HE’S READING.  The negative reviews pointed out how there are other types of books geared for boys that didn’t use such offensive words.  They are absolutely right.  If their children want to read them, hurray for them.  My son?  He rather read about nasty nostril nuggets.  (I could go on a tangent here about how everyone’s different and everyone parents differently depending on what works best for their children, etc.  But I won’t.  Let’s do pictures instead, shall we?)

SKB #3 likes them too.

It’s inspired a love of reading for himself and to his brothers and I am grateful for both.

So to Captain Underpants naysayers I say:

For the love of Captain Underpants, lighten up!!I


Note:

I’m using this post as a Togetherness sounding board to link to You Capture’s theme this week.  It’s suiting since it shows the “togetherness” the books are binging them.

Yanet  IIIII
 

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A Tape Measurer Growth Chart

What do you do when a certain three-year old unravels the measuring tape out of the dispenser beyond repair? 

Why, make a growth chart, of course!

Sun Kissed Husband nailed it into the wall in the playroom for me.

I cut off the little metal at the bottom and started after the baseboard.

That's it.  It’s ready to go.

This wall in the playroom is painted with chalkboard paint so I originally marked the SKBs’ height with chalk.  As they played, it erased and I wanted something permanent so I went on the search of a paint pen.  I couldn’t find it after two stores and I am not very patient so I used Appliance Touch-up instead. 

 

My thought is to embellish it some when I measure the boys on their birthdays.  For now, it’s staying simple.

I may not be blogging tomorrow.  We are expecting a visit from Tropical Storm Nicole (now it’s only Tropical Depression #16).  Ever since lightning struck our tree, I don’t like having the computer on while it’s storming. 

Linking to:

 

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Say What?

-As a blogger, do you ever wonder how word gets around about your blog or your projects?  I never really gave it much thought until tonight.  I clicked on the Stats tab on Blogger and I noticed this as one of my Traffic Sources.

http://babeczkaa.blox.pl/2010/09/zrob-sobie-lampe.html

Of course, I had to check it out.  The problem was that it was in Polish.  Luckily, most of the post’s contents were photographs.  With the help of Google, I was able to translate it. Babeczkaa is an interior design blog.  The post was about home made lamps.

Right under this photo, I found my link. 

Tutaj przepis na samodzielne wykonanie takich lamp. 

Its literal translation is:

Here are a recipe for self-execution of such lamps.

When you click TUTAJ (which means here), you'll find the link to my mason jar pendant lamp post.

Wow, word travels! I

Yanet  IIIII Pin It

Alton Brown’s Brussels Sprouts Recipe

-In the last scene of Cheaper by the Dozen the Baker family is seating at the dinner table for a nice family meal.  One of the dishes that they were passing around (and everyone seemed to partake) was Brussels sprouts.  I thought if the Baker kids ate it, maybe my kids would too.  After all, they are always mimicking what they see on television.  My sister-in-law, Melissa, had seen Atlton Brown’s (from the Food Network)recipe for Brussels sprouts and she made it for us one afternoon.  I can’t guarantee that your kids will eat it, but I can guarantee it’s delicious nonetheless.

Alton Brown's Brussels Sprouts

Ingredients

6 slices bacon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

1 small onion, julienned

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 small Granny Smith apple, cored and chopped

1 recipe Basic Brussels Sprouts, recipe follows

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 teaspoon whole-grain Dijon mustard

1 ounce blue cheese, crumbled

Pinch freshly ground nutmeg

Directions

Place the bacon into a 10-inch straight-sided sauté pan and set over

medium-high heat. Cook bacon until crisp and brown. Remove bacon and all but 1 tablespoon of the fat from the pan using a slotted spoon. Decrease the heat to low. Add the onion and cook just until they turn semi-translucent, approximately 3 minutes. Add the salt and apple and continue to cook for another minute. Add the Brussels sprouts, heavy cream and mustard and cook just until the Brussels sprouts are heated through, approximately 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the bacon, blue cheese and nutmeg.

Serve immediately.

Basic Brussels Sprouts

1 pound Brussels sprouts, rinsed

1/2 cup water

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Cut off the stem end of the Brussels sprouts and remove any yellowing outer leaves. Cut each Brussels sprout in half from top to bottom. Place the Brussels sprouts, water and salt into a 3 to 4-quart saucier and cover. Place over high heat and cook for 5 minutes or until tender. Remove and serve immediately.

Yield: 4 servings

 

The Sun Kissed Boys wanted nothing to do with Brussels.  Not even when I pointed out that the kids in the movie ate it.  Could it be that kids eating Brussels sprouts only happens in movies?  I

Yanet  IIIII Pin It

You Know You're a Blogger When... (Part 2)

Yesterday's and today's post were inspired by Donna’s, of Funky Junk Interiors, 15 dead giveaways that you're a blogger... .  Check it out, it’s very funny and very accurate.  These were the ones that rang particularly true to me:

2. You start taking pics of things at their very worst and actually feel pretty darn good about it!

4. You take self portraits of yourself.

6. Anything, and by that I mean ANYTHING appears to be a good photo opportunity.

7. A simple getaway is never ever a simple getaway event ever ever again. 90% of that 'vacation time' is spent doing a photo shoot for..  you know...

12. You heckle when you look at some of your first blog posts ever and wonder why on EARTH you didn't realize how dark and fuzzy the photos were. (and remember those nearly 90% angles that made you feel like you were sliding off the planet earth?)

While you’re there, take a look around her blog to see her crazy good projects.  These are some of my favorites. Click on the photo for the link.

This lady's got some serious talent, don't you agree? 

Enjoy the weekend everyone!  I

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You Know You’re a Blogger When… (Part 1)

-Last summer these two SKBs created a remarkable bond.

So it wasn’t a surprise to me that when SKB #2 was hurt, he turned for his brother for comfort.

I found it so sweet and touching that I grabbed the camera to capture the moment.  After all, it might make for a great post about brotherly love, right? Or if anything, for times when they’re not so loving to one another, I can bring out the photo and say, “See?!  You do love each other.  Now play nice”.  Well, SKB #1 did not see my point of view on this.  He very sternly said to me, “Mom, this isn’t the time.” (What’s he talking about?  It’s always the time to get a photo.  Silly boy!)  Hey, no one was bleeding, no bones were protruding, it was all good.  Then I heard him say (in an even more frustrated tone), “Now he’s doing it too!!”  I turned to see what he was talking about and I saw this.

Turns out SKB#3 was documenting things too.  Ha, ha!!

Check back tomorrow for Part 2.  Thanks for visiting.  I

Yanet  IIIII

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Butterflies are Free

-I came across these at Target.

Now, at $14.99, I knew they wouldn’t break the bank but I also knew that I had these stashed away from SKB#3’s first birthday.  (I hang on to stuff.  He’s now 3.)

So I spray painted them with leftover Rusteoleum Metallic paint from the Industrial Chair project.  Then I bent and put double-sided sticky tape on them.

They were ready to go.

Thanks for visiting.  I

Yanet  IIIII

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A Bucket of Shoes

-The first thing we do when we walk in the door in our house is take off our shoes.  Yep, the Sun Kissed Family runs barefoot 99.9% of the time.  The shoes, unfortunately, ended up floating about wherever said family member decided to leave them.  Then I found this bucket in a garage sale for a buck.  I placed it by the front door so we can all throw our shoes in. 

But that wasn’t good enough.  I wanted to “stamp” its contents.  Just so there wouldn’t be any confusion from certain family members as to where the shoes were suppose to go (other than the closet).  So the stenciling letters came out.

No excuses, people!

Thanks for visiting.  I

Yanet  IIIII

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Kiss Slowly Sign

-A friend’s Facebook status this weekend read “Life’s too short.  Kiss slowly, love deeply, forgive quickly”.  I loved it and knew that I’d have to somehow incorporate it into one of my projects.

I found a slab of wood in my pile of “treasures”, gave it a quick coat of spray paint (as a matter of fact, I don’t think I even cleaned it all that much), and gathered up some letters stamps.

I happened to have the sander and stain handy from another project (because I can’t seem to work on one project at once) so I decided to distress it.

And this is how it turned out.

Some times the “thrown together” projects turn out to be the most special ones.I

Yanet  IIIII

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