Monday, December 5, 2011

I ain't lyin'....Pumpkins were a'flyin'!!

I TOLD YOU! 
Phone: Ring, ring.....ring, ring. 
Andy: Hello? Oh sure we will take a complete town's worth of old pumpkins. I'll be right there.
Honey, we hit the pumpkin jackpot!!!
Me: .....*sigh*.....


Nice job, babe. I am so proud of your skilz in aquiring rotting food. 
Need a nap and an Aleve after your marathon Pumpkin Chunkin? 


Hey, Cole! I know babe, I know. 

The sun is in Logan's eyes......I'm raising the next generation here folks. 

And there it is. The reason we keep tarps and shovels in our truck. The chickens. No matter what time of day or night we are ready to keep the cluckers happy.  I wanted to get some seeds out of our "loot" but it was a  little too white trash even for me. I do have some standards.......

Ps...Farmer Andy wanted me to include this tidbit of useless information:
Pumpkin seeds are a natural de-wormer. 
Yet, another reason I will not be fighting off Big Bertha for a seed or two. 

Friday, November 25, 2011

Turkey Day

I hope you all had a spectacular Thanksgiving Day with your family and friends-and in some cases....co-workers! We had a wonderful time with all of the above. 

My kids can't escape my dorkiness....even on Thanksgiving. I made some "turkey shirts with googley eyes" for them. What a crew! 
I worked til midnite on Thanksgiving after spending the day with family. On the way home I was so amazed at how busy and bright it all was due to the Black Friday sales. I had no inclination to get up for the shopping rush. BUT...I did have some great coupons for Jo-Ann's  and with orders for The CarSeat Cozee to fill I wanted to hit the sales. I left the house at 9:30am and made my way to the 2nd best store (THE Home Depot being the first....of course!). Oh. My. Word. I know I am crazy for coupons and sales and all things cheap but seriously......SERIOUSLY.
I pulled a number out of the ticket roll and found 1sq ft of space to stand with my 4 pieces of fabric. I looked at my ticket and it was F71....they were freaking on E1. That is 171 people in front of me waiting to get fabric cut. That's 171 people in front of me waiting to pay for their cut fabric. I waited about an hour and it was only up to ......E21. People had re-stocking carts filled to taller than themselves. Yeah....not so much. I will try again tomorrow. 
If you were stronger and braver and more patient than me- I hope your Black Friday was uber successful.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

I just can't help myself....

I've said before that we are a drop-off for all sorts of things- dogs, leftovers from Applebee's, furniture. We got an influx of stuff when a friend had a couple changes in marital status. They dropped off a wonderful dining room set that needed a little love in the seat cushion department. 
With 3 kids so far --I'm still hoping for a doorbell ring and a set of twins in Moses baskets sitting there- I figured I would set myself up for less headaches and cleaning.

Here is the before. You can see what I mean. 


Here is the after. For 2 of the chairs I picked a great fabric and then covered them in a thick clear plastic. Spill away boys! Now go get a sponge and wipe it up..... 
I was waiting at the cutting counter at Jo-Anns and a "Judge Judy" type lady was asking everyone what they were making with their fabric. I tried to find my cell phone to fake a call but since my number was up next I didn't want to be rude to the employee since I am in there every other day. 
She didn't like the idea of mixing it up in such an important room. 
Now, normally I would come back with a sarcastic remark but I am trying to be "nicer". *sigh*......
I love it. Stay on your chairs boys. 


There was a pile of naked stuffed animals at church waiting for clothes before they were given away downtown. I tried my hand at making a little dress for a Cabbage Patch cat.....I ain't winnin' any awards with this one. Simmer down American Girl you will turn a profit this year. I actually got a catalog in the mail last week from them. Holy cow! I don't even spend that much on a shirt for ME. ME, a grown woman, whole human being, ME.  3 square inches of Burberry fashioned into a shirt shouldn't cost more than 36 square inches of Daisy Fuentes....just sayin'.

Monday, November 14, 2011

My review of the new SmashBurger.

The kids and I had some errands to run and we were "in the area" and decided to stop in to the new SmashBurger restaurant that opened last week-ish. As some of you are aware I am a burger fanatic. I will pick a burger over anything, anywhere, anytime.  

I ordered a "SmashBurger". It is the standard burger here. Nothing fancy with the Lettuce, tomato, onion, mayo and "smash"sauce. I was eye-ing the Bacon, BBQ  and crispy onion burger but the whole "smash"sauce sucked me in. 

The fries are super skinny. They have a few different varieties and I actually meant to order the rosemary ones but (surprisingly) I was distracted by the boys trying to take "a money" out of the tip bowl.  Silly me, I need to focus.

I ordered a kid meal with a cheeseburger and one with chicken tenders. I split the two meals between the boys so they get a little of each. Why? I really don't know. 

Yes, my kids are drinking pop. I usually get them chocolate milk as a "treat" when we eat out but they kept going on and on about "can't wait to drink my diet coke" (i have no idea where they picked that up from) so I just let them have some Fanta orange. I won "Mother of the year" tonight from them. 

You can see the burger and chicken tender is gone from their little metal basket.  Drink up, Logan you won't get that for a while!

To go along with the "Mother of the Year", yes my 10 month old is eating french fries. That kid eats whatever we eat and really doesn't eat any baby food anymore. Works for me!

Well, how was it??
Ummmm......honestly? 
Disappointing. 
Gasp! 
Yep. 
Culver's is right next door and I would go to them instead of coming back to Smashburger. 
It was a bright, clean place with ample room in the booth. The employees were nice, not overly attentive where you can't get a bite in between "How is everything?" and "Can I get anyone anything?"
My silverware was dirty, the boys chicken tender meal had no BBQ sauce as ordered, the fries were hard as a rock and everytime I took a bite of my average burger there was a weird smell of wet dishrag. 
The bun to burger ratio is off. The huge bun swallows the thin patty. The chicken was SOOO greasy and limp. 
The window where the servers stand and pick up your order was close to our seats and I got to hear super interesting conversations about how good Steak-n-Shake was on the way to work because one of the employees would never eat this "crap" and so on. The servers throwing  paper and pens at each other was a nice touch in front of my 2 yr olds but whatever! The manager stopped at the table next to us with a half untucked shirt and a crooked name tag which I thought was a nice professional touch, but maybe I am just being nit-picky.
Would I go back? I would but it wouldn't be for awhile. Maybe let them work the "kinks" out. 
Have you gone? What did you think? I hope your experience was fantastic and I just went on an off night. 



Monday, November 7, 2011

Dog jackets

I have some great fabric scraps that I just couldn't throw out. I asked on Facebook what I should do with them. I got a lot of great ideas that I am going to get to work on and this is one. Dog jackets!!
My co-worker, Heidi, asked me to make her dogs some jackets with some scraps. Here you go, Heidi!!
I know, I know...I had to add a CarSeat Cozee tag, I love them. 
Another notch in my dork belt!

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Another great week at the Acres.

"I know, I know, I tried what you said. I upped the aeration on their bubbling water, I booked the massage therapist for an extra hour a day and I changed their stereo to a 34 disc cd-changer. Any other complaints from around  the Acres?"

"what? Oh, hey honey, this isn't what......*sigh*....yes it is."

Reese looking all...Reese-ish. This kid is crazy cute and a cuddler. Her hair is a hot mess. Like Merideth Grey in the first 4 seasons of Grey's Anatomy kind of hot mess.  With a style maven like me for a mom, I'm sure you are super surprised. I just hit Old Navy for long sleeve T's...yeah....maven.

Here is a shameless plug for my business.  I do custom blocks. This order was for "purple and ballet". I love it. I am definitely liking the whole "3D" thing. Head on over to www.carseatcozee.com to order yours! ok....I'm done!

The kids got to go "Trick or treating" at their Grandma's office. All the lawyers put buckets of candy outside their office and the kids go through and get some.  When I say candy...I mean CANDY. Like full size "I just found OJ's diary" sized candy.  "Grab the Snickers, baby, the brown package....no, not that one...oh, great baby! I love Starburst....."

Reese getting in on the action. Yep, she ate candy. 

Hoover it baby. Don't let a silly thing like packaging get in your way. Get on that. 


All tuckered out after their adventure. 
"What? No, you didn't have any Reese's Peanut butter cups or Snickers honey. 
You must have dreamed it."

I have a coupon for a free 8x10 canvas print or $50 off any canvas print size....this is a top candidate for  our wall. I think no matter what kind of day I am having ( no, honey, don't read into that. Everyday with you is sunshine and puppies.) looking at that face will brighten it up. 
Hope your day is great!

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Halloween at Boulder Ridge!

We are taking up Russian Ballet! 
Just kidding! The boys are gonna be chickens for Halloween this year and they needed to have yellow tights. I couldn't find any yellow or orange tights anywhere so I bought white and just did a quick dye job. Oh...they aren't tights they are "Man-leggings".  Yeah, I'm thinking the same thing....Graduation photo board!

Here are the costumes. I love them. (you too, boys, but enough about you) My DH helped me cut out some of the 4,826 feathers. Still trying to figure out what he wants.....I thought I had till Thursday to get them finished but then I realized that Boulder Ridge had their Halloween event ending tonight so "lazy mamma" had to morph into "hot-glue super fast" mamma. 

Okay....I know....Reese's egg costume leaves a little to be desired. I did have great visions for it but I guess I forgot about the whole "gotta carry you around or put you in a stoller" aspect. Yeah...sorry kid. You get the 5 minute costume.  Welcome to the beginning of a long life of crazy.




Here we are at Boulder Ridge. 

As you know, we gave 2 of our goats to Boulder so it's always a treat for my DH to visit his girls.  

"Hey chicken, come here! Your mom is a freak, she needs to simmer."

Son, look away, look away!



When you go to Boulder you have to go into the Aviary.  (That lady looking like she is at the starting block for big race...yeah that's my mom. She's to blame for my crafty-dork gene.) This time the boys did much better at holding the seed sticks. There was a lot less shrieking and shaking of the stick. Congrats on growing up.

Logan. Way to go honey. That 2 oz bird sure knows it's place.

Cole. Yeah, I know. It's almost over. Stay strong oh chickeny one.

Me and my egg. Looking good, Reese. 

Isn't that a fabulous picture? The boys look uber thrilled don't they? 

This is my step-father holding Reese. See that fire stick to the right? About 7 seconds after the picture someone knocked it into my kid and my DH reacted with his "skilz" and saved the chicken costume kid.  

Here we are on the tractor ride. 
Buck up little birds! We have 3 more Halloween events to strut your chicken selves around in your "man-leggings". Yeah......

Saturday, October 22, 2011

a simple transformation

i had this pair of jeans i wasn't going to wear anymore. 
i wanted a cute jean skirt.
i love ruffles.
i was in a crafty mood.
I cut the legs of my jeans and had a shirt (i wore it in an earlier post but the buttons kept popping open every time i moved) that i also wasn't going to wear anymore.
bing, bang, boom! 
a new skirt. 

Monday, October 17, 2011

In case you thought we were normal....

Let me reassure you things are as "normal" as ever. My twins are still underwear models and my daughter is, well, ......*sigh*....a hot mess!





Yeah, sissy, lookin' fine! Logan, Logan, Logan. What is a mother to say? You are a stud.  (try to overlook the marks on the couch....we are farmers. Farmers are dirty....and chickeny and don't have time to scrub farm dirt off the couch because we are too busy on Facebook). Don't you wish you were normal? ;)

Thursday, October 13, 2011

I'm just not that into mock turtlenecks......


I have this little problem.....I'm just not that into mock turtlenecks. 
I know this is a sensitive subject for some Apple-lovers.
 I understand that certain black mock turtlenecks have been flying 
off the shelves in honor of the passing of Steve Jobs. 
I'm sure that they don't have NatGeo sized grape-cluster nodules hanging out with their thyroid. 
I took one of these shirts and "dorked"it up while the boys were honing their soccer skills outside with my DH. 



I cut off the mock part by simply following the seam. I tried it on and decided it needed a little more taken off (when will I ever say that again?) I stood in the mirror with a pencil and drew a line in the shape of a typical v neck style. I didn't want to "waste" the mock part. Why?.....I really don't know. 
I cut it in half and snipped it every couple mm's making a frayed look. 
I pinned the fray into the v-neck and sewed away. 

Here's the final outcome! I love it! 
There are a few other shirts I am going to hack away at and take an "off the rack" and make it my own.
Simmer down, Michael Kors and Daisy Fuentes, there's plenty of room on the racks for all of us. 

What would you wear from your closet if it was tweaked just a bit?