100th Post

The 100th post. What to say?! I think at one time it was popular to share 100 things about yourself but that's just too self-absorbed even for me. And it creeps me out that anyone would actually spend the time to read 100 things about anyone. That idea is probably out-dated anyway. Blogs are sooo "two years ago" according to Amanda on "Ugly Betty". I like to be fashionably late into the world of technology. It works for me.

Charm Bracelet Party

A couple of weeks ago I was reading Saucy's Sprinkles and loved her charm party idea. I decided right then and there to invite some friends over for a Valentine charm party. Literally, I emailed an invitation immediately. I didn't really think it through until two days before the party. The realization hit me that I don't have 15 chairs or a kitchen table big enough for all my friends. Luckily, we own a large cafeteria table and my dad hooked me up with some chairs from the office. It all worked out in the end!
I made 4 different charms to share and managed to "Dremel" a perfect hole into the kitchen table. I really need a craft space.


I provided the bracelets and my friends brought charms to exchange. It was so fun and everyone went home with a darling charm bracelet. I plan on doing this quite a few more times. In anticipation for Christmas I've already purchased quite a selection of cute things that can be made into charms! Oh I just love charms!

Penelope

I was in the mood for an artsy movie this week and remembered that we had never seen "Penelope" with Christina Ricci. If you recall, her character is born with a pig nose and ears to a rich couple. Penelope's mother is convinced that the pig curse will break if she were to marry into another well to do family but alas all the rich boys run away screaming when they see her. All but one, our hero who falls in love with Penelope's personality before he actually sees her face.
Frankly I appreciated Penelope's wardrobe more than the story line. She wore lots of colorful thin sweaters, skirts with colored tights, and lovely Mary-Jane's. I was inspired! If a girl with a pig nose can pull it off, surely I can too!

Mom's Marketplace

Mom's Marketplace is Prattville's consignment sale. They were so stuffed with items at the Fall sale they've decided to do 2 sales this spring! What I love about this idea is that I can shop all the other sales and the items that don't fit can be consigned into the last sale of the season.
The first sale for Mom's Marketplace will be mostly clothing, shoes, accessories, and baby equipment.
The second sale in April/May will include furniture, decor, toys, bedding and bath.

Below are some of the dates. This particular sale continues for two weeks and is located in Prattville Square off 31 next to the Dollar General.

Saturday February 20th 9-4
Monday 22nd through Friday 26th 9-6

See you at the sales!

Spring Consignment Sales!

It's consignment sale time again! I'm so glad, Charlie has outgrown most of his winter clothes. I did not buy enough 18 months at the last sales. I'm also anxious to get rid of quite a bit of stuff cluttering up the kids closets. The toy situation is out of control too.

Here's the sale dates so far:

My Kids Attic (Coliseum Blvd., Montgomery)
February 13th 9-6
February 15-16th 9-6
1/2 off Feb. 17th-19th 9-6
1/2 off Feb. 20th 9-5

Kids Carousel (Old Sam's Building, Montgomery)
February 27th 9-6
March 1-3rd 9-6
1/2 off March 4&5 9-6
75% off March 6 9-3

Doodlebugs (U.S. 231, Wetumpka)
April 3rd 8-4
April 5th-8th 9-6
1/2 off April 9th 9-6
1/2 off April 10th 8-4

Dates and location for Mom's Marketplace are coming this week.

Hoarders

Have you seen this show on A&E!!! If you haven't, it's about different individuals who hoard to the point where their homes are no longer livable. I'm glad that I've seen the show because it has motivated me to get rid of some of of my own clutter. I see these people doing the same thought process that I do when I rationalize why I have to keep something that I haven't used in years.

One of my biggest projects is now done, my Christmas stuff. I donated 6 boxes worth of stuff. It was painful for a second. I was thinking "this is good stuff, I might use this some day, I could sell it". But the bottom line is I don't use it and I'm tired of storing it. I'd rather have an organized and clean space. I went through every box and sorted how I use it. For example, all the outside decor is now sorted into their own boxes and labeled. Next season when it's time to do the outside of the house I can just pull those boxes down instead having to bring it all down then go through pulling out what I need.


I'm so happy that it's done and next Christmas season everything will be so easy to put up. Now I'm onto another organizing project...

Trends that Make Me Feel Old

The latest nail trend is a treatment that makes the nail look like lace. I HATE it. They actually glue a piece of lace onto the nails.

Charming Jamie

One of my favorite gifts from Christmas is of all things....a cookbook, Jamie's Food Revolution by Jamie Oliver. I have seen one of Jamie's shows on BBC called "Jamie at Home" where he gathers ingredients from his own garden and cooks with pots and pans that look like he found them at a thrift store. It 's all very charming, he has a such a likable way about him. He's also been on Martha Stewart several times and managed to make her laugh and relax.


His new cook book is intended to get people who don't like cooking or don't know how, to get into the kitchen! I like his mix of recipes that include lots of fresh veggies and spices with simple cooking skills. Every recipe has pictures, I need to see the finished product to get inspired. I've cooked three recipes so far and enjoyed them all. Our favorite is the spaghetti and meatballs. Katherine helped by plucking the leaves off the stems of fresh basil and going outside to snip some sprigs from our Rosemary bush. I've never made my own spaghetti sauce before and it was good and easy to do. This recipe was a bit more intense than my usual but we had dinner guests that night so I made the effort. I also made a chocolate cake but in my haste iced it before it cooled and the top layer slowly slid off to one side. No one cared and it was delicious!

More Resolutions

Of course weight loss is on my list and has been for many years but I won't bore you with the details on that one.

My next resolution is our family's food storage. Our church encourages a year supply of food for self reliance in times of hardship. This has also been on my list for several years but I always end up quitting in frustration much like weight loss. It is such a challenge to figure out what works best for your family. I want to serve my family more fresh food and be able to store it myself without a bunch of added salt, sugar, and preservatives. That means a garden. I don't know much about this subject but I do own two excellent books on gardens?! My plan is to read read read and then talk to some relatives who garden about their experiences and then just do it. I'll let you know how it goes.

January Stinks

I'm not really looking forward to January. When I think of January I think of icky weather, no sparkly decor, and being bombarded with weight loss commercials. NO fun.

I have thought of some New Year's resolutions. Sorry, they're all predictable and not very exciting. The first one is to get organized. I have faced the hard truth, I'm not organized. I've been in denial for years. I've been in denial up until last week in fact. My personal belongings are a mess, there I said it. I promise to accept the help of my husband whose belongings are all annoyingly tidy.

A friend of mine taught a class recently on this very subject. She pointed out that when you move into a new home things get shoved into cabinets with little thought other than getting unpacked. This explains why some of my kitchen cabinets are slam packed and another barely used. So the kitchen cabinets are on "The List".



The spaces underneath all of the sinks also made it onto "The List"


and my closet, What is all that on the floor?! I'm not sure yet. I make my child clean up when her closet floor looks this bad. What a hypocrite I am.


and the biggest problem of all...the laundry room. I really want this room to be welcoming as we enter and exit our home through it. I have seen some really great laundry rooms on other people's blogs, so it is doable. Or maybe these people are aliens.




More on my resolutions later.

Christmas is Over, Sigh

We had a wonderful few weeks with just a small number of meltdowns, and a bout of the flu. I thought I'd share how the Dirty Santa "Made for T.V." game went. The Smart Mop and Slap Chop were the most popular gifts. I don't think we will do it again but it was fun once. We took home the hand steamer, it doesn't work well. It is now in a stack of "to be returned". I'd love to hear from everyone else how well their product works.


Santa and the Tooth Fairy came to our house Christmas Eve. Katherine managed to pull out her first loose tooth minutes before bedtime. She'll go to great lengths to put off going to bed.

This was my favorite gift that I gave this year. I added the fabric dogs to a purchased canvas bag for my sister in-law who has two German Shepherds. It was a fun project but I will use fabric glue instead of Wonder Under next time. This is a project you can find on Martha Stewart's site if you're interested.