Repurposed table into Chalkboard Table

I'm addicted to Pinterest... I've probably already said this but I'm saying it again. It is what it is.

 

Anyway, I'm always looking for new and exciting things to make my life easier as the mother of a toddler. If you have children of your own then you know (or will soon know) how much toddlers love to draw their fantastic pictures all over your furniture and walls and anything else their little legs and hands can reach.

 

So here I am scrolling through Pinterest and what do I see? A genius idea to take an old coffee table and turn it into a chalkboard table!



I have an old coffee table!  

In case you want to do this to a piece of furniture of your own lets go over some stuff you're going to need.


Table (or whatever you're wanting to make a chalk board surface on)
Sander (Though not necessary, it does make this project easier)
Sand paper
Chalk Board Spray Paint (If you don't have a big project to do you could go down to your local craft store; ie: Hobby Lobby, Joann, etc; and pick up a small canister of chalk board paint and hand paint the surface)


Now lets get down to business.

1st, Get your husband, grab a cold drink, and a camera.

2nd, make that man sand your table!

Okay okay, lets get serious here. Grab your sander and sand paper and sand the crap outta that table. Make sure you go over it really good to make sure all the gloss has been removed.

Next you're going to want to tape off anything you don't want covered in chalk paint. I didn't want the bottom trim or legs painted. Eventually I plan on grabbing some turquoise (that's my new favorite color) paint for the trim and legs. Jay came up with the great idea to tear a crappy trash bag and tape it around the table to make sure the legs didn't get any paint on them.

Now grab your spray can and go at it. Make sure you're spraying in one direction only. I chose to go length wise (with the grain) to make sure everything came out smoothly.

I did about 3 coats to make sure I didn't miss any spots. I was very happy with the outcome. I think Brooklyn was very pleased with her new toy.



The Best Shrimp Scampi

I've been taking advantage of my oldest two being gone for the summer and making dishes they won't eat.

I'm not a fan of seafood but I love shrimp, especially shrimp scampi so I went on the hunt for a recipe.

I found The Best Shrimp Scampi recipe (literally).  Now I did change just a couple of things. They are minor things so don't get too worried.

Instead of olive oil I used coconut oil, in place of mincing the garlic cloves myself; I used 1 tsp of already minced garlic, and instead of spaghetti pasta I used Linguine. See, no big deal!

I was very pleased with dinner that's for sure. This is a must-make-again recipe!

Happy 2nd Birthday baby girl!

My baby girl turns 2 today. Exciting times when your little ones have birthdays.

 Between planning parties and making sure you have the perfect gift and trying to get everything just right; the party ends up more for the parent and less for the child.

 I was rather disappointed in my Brooklyn's party just because more people canceled than actually showed up. Many of them had legit excuses that couldn't be helped (like being out of town) so I completely understood. That's okay though, my little princess still enjoyed herself.

She especially enjoyed opening up her presents. I think she was pretty happy their weren't any clothes this time (unlike her 1 year party).

The important people that have been there since day 1 showed up and of course it was nice getting to see my preggo sister.

I don't think we'll do this again though, maybe just family.

 

 

 

Left Behind

Well it's done. We took Matt and Binks to Alabama this past Saturday. It was bittersweet really. I was sad to see them go but I know they need to spend time with their father. Besides it will be good for them all. I remember what it was like growing up not knowing your dad and I would never wish that on anyone.

The trip was long and exhausting. We drove up through the panhandle of Florida into Alabama. The gas station on the border of the two, I think it was a Raceway gas station, sucked. I had no service whatsoever.

The majority of the trip was pretty peaceful. We all got up around 4am on Saturday morning so Matt and Bri slept for a while during the drive.

Burger King in Somewhere Lake City, Florida (lol, I can't think of the name of the city but will update when I can get to the receipts) makes a really crappy Caramel Frappe. The coffee in it was mega strong and tasted like gas station coffee, and our English muffins were burnt.  The rest stops had some beautiful flowers though. Matt wanted to pick me one but I told him they look better where they were and I didn't want them to die from not getting nutrients.

We also learned at a rest stop that Briahnna has never seen a pay phone. Guess she never noticed that Wal-Mart has them as soon as you walk in the side doors. Silly girl!

 

 

 

I really wanted to get a pic of the kids with their dad and Tiffany (their step-mom) when we got to Birmingham but Bri and I had to pee so bad from being stuck at a red light for 15 minutes in Montgomery then 50 miles of road jam that we rushed to the bathroom. I was trying to make sure we covered everything with Matt's school work, papers needing to be signed and stuff like that I just straight up forgot about the photo. Oh well, there's always August!

I was sad to see them go but so happy to be back in Florida. I had to get back home to my two babies here that were waiting.

 

*Side Note: Why does the state government spend money on a new Governor so-and-so sign when that money could be used for much better stuff. Like raises for our teachers or Corrections Officers or even just the schools in general?

 

 

Matt and Bri seemed happy to be up there. I haven't spoke to them yet but Tiffany has been nice to send me a couple of pics. I'm so glad we can get along better now. No reason for us to dislike each other when we have the same goals in mind; we just want the best for our children and for them to happy healthy lives. I was in her position once so I know how she's feeling when it comes to making sure Shayne has time with his children and they him.

 

 

 

Matt (12), Jimmy (2), Bri (11)

 

Alexis (14), Matt, Jimmy, and Bri



***Next Week***

Minnie Mouse Cupcakes!

Busy Bee

Things have been a tad hectic around here lately.

Matt and Binks finished this year of school. Now I have two Middle Schoolers, man am I old! Matt has to complete the 2nd semester of Language Arts again as he failed that class. Good news is if he finishes it over the summer he will be able to be fully into 7th grade next school year.

We are currently getting ready to take a short (7 hours) road trip to Birmingham. Matt and Binks are staying the summer with their dad. I'm a little nervous since they haven't been in 4 years but I'm sure everything will be fine.

Brooklyn's birthday party is coming up on the 22nd and her actual birthday is on the 27. Not to mention Jay will be on vacation the week of her birthday so of course we plan on going down to Orlando. There's also been talk of going to Bradenton/Sarasota some time that week as well.

June is just a busy busy month for us so if I don't post too much, don't worry! I will blog about our short trip/birthday/and vacay as soon as I have the time.

Now for your throwback!

I chose this photo of me because it hides a lot of deception. I remember this day very well. I felt very beautiful this day until I got a little message over on Myspace. The message was from a woman that worked with my ex-husband (Not my older children's father; just wanted to clear that up). This was the day she forwarded me the messages that took place between them the day I left for my dad's funeral and the few days I was away.

I'm so glad I have a better man now that loves me and would never betray me. I thank God for the times like in the photo just because I love my family and myself so much now and I know that wouldn't be possible if I didn't learn the truth and grow from it. I'm so thankful for everything that has happened in my life whether it be good or bad!

Throwback Thursday

Oct. 2009

Jay and I met back in 2009. I'm still very much in love with this man. He takes great care of his family, puts us first, is a wonderful father, and a very hard worker.

I would never have imagined we'd be here today with 2 more kids. He's been my rock over the last almost 4 years. He's always believed in me and always lifts me up when I'm down.

I look forward to many more years of growing with this man.

April 2013

Homemade Chocolate Chip Frappe (McCafe' knockoff)

Who doesn't love a great Frappe? I sure as hell do! I'm particularly in love with McDonald's Caramel Frappes.

Here I am this morning thinking to myself "how great would it be to have a frappe right now"!

"Hmm, wonder if I could make one myself."

Yes! I can, and you can too with just a few simple ingredients.

1.Frozen coffee.  Freeze your left over coffee in an ice cube tray (or brew some coffee just for this purpose).



I was too impatient and didn't let my coffee freeze completely (don't do that, let it freeze).

 

 

2. Chocolate syrup. (I didn't have any but I did have baking chocolate; melted it). Use as much as desired. I would suggest about 1/4 cup, but you can adjust depending on how strong you want the chocolate to taste.

3. Blend frozen coffee cubes, 1/4 cup milk, and chocolate until mixture is the consistency of a frappe.

*I added some chocolate chips into the blender, as well as to the finished product. If you have some ready whip, spray that shit on top and add a chocolate drizzle if you want to get fancy!

Some of my fave. blogs

I have to share with you all some of my favorite blogs around the web. The women/men that run these blogs must have some pretty interesting interesting lives. These are a mix of blogs; educational, humor, parenting etc. Hope you all love them as much as I do!


1: Cake wrecks is by far one of the best! Who doesn't love someone else's screw up? And it's on a cake? Best thing ever!

Who doesn't love a penis cookie with fireworks?



2. J&A and Co.  This is my absolute Go To for parenting. This family is BEAUTIFUL. And I'm not talking about physical appearances (though they are beautiful in that aspect as well) but in their parenting advice. Definitely a must read! Mother's Little Secrets is by far my favorite post so far.

 

 



3. Welcome to the Mouse House. By far the best for tutorials; sewing, homemade cleaners, home décor, she's got a little of everything over there. I may be a little bias on this one as I've followed Haley over on BabyCenter's sewing group but she really is amazing! I mean seriously, how many people do you know can make a super cute skirt out of a tea towel from Target?

 

 

 

 

Share your blogs with us and If I love love love it, I'll share here for everyone to check it out! 

Project 365: Days 1-4

I'm not going to bombard anyone with a post a day just to post a pic or two. Speaking of which, I can't only do one pic a day. Sometimes it will be easy because let's face it; I don't leave my home, let along my living room 5/7 days a week!

I'll post my pics, with labels of course every few days so it's easy on everyone!

Here's to the start of 1 year of photos!

1/356  Sophia doesn't make the "poop" face that other babies make.
She enjoys pooping and she aint afraid to show it!

2/365  not a day goes by that she doesn't make me smile.

 

2/365  She enjoyed wearing Taylour's clothes.

 

 

2/365  My beautiful sister, beautiful daughter, and beautiful nephew on the way.
I'm just as excited to meet him as I have been if it were my own baby.
 

3/365 There will always be room in our bed for our babies.

 

4/365  One of my favorite moments of the day.

Nursing my baby to sleep.

 

Project 365

I see these all over the net and wonder if I could remember to do this every single day. I don't use my camera as much as I used to and would like to get back into the habit. I'm really just not happy with my camera. I have a simple Kodak point and shoot camera but of course I would love to have a Nikon DSLR. How wonderful would that be for me.

I've had a passion for taking photos for a long time but the point and shoot just doesn't work for me. I'm not a professional by any means but I still have a desire to take good photos.

I would really enjoy doing this project though and I'm hoping to follow through; I'm horrible at follow through. Though it would be better to start on the first of the year, I'm too impatient to wait that long.

How many of you have done this project and actually followed through with it? I would love to hear what you've learned from this.

So you want to chalk your hair:

     Binks has been wanting to dye her hair lately and in hopes of compromise I was willing to let her get highlights. Her aunt on the other hand stepped in the mommy role for this one and absolutely refused to allow this. Binks has gorgeous blond hair that my sister and I were both born with. Unfortunately there was no one around to stop us from dying our hair and now we both regret it and have struggled for years trying to get that perfect blond color back.

This led me to Pinterest for a little research. Final Compromise: Hair Chalking!

Hair chalking isn't hard at all and the process itself takes little time. I was able to get up at my regular 5:45am; made coffee, nursed the baby, hair chalked, "curled" hair, made Jay's lunch for work, cooked breakfast, and had Binks out the door by 6:35.

Here's a look at all of the steps of hair chalking:

1. Make sure you have the proper tools.
   a: Chalk pastels (commonly used by artists) or actual hair chalk but that costs a little more.
   b: Spray bottle with water.
   c: Flat iron/Curling iron (do NOT use a blow dryer as it will blow the chalk out)

Step 2: Wet the strands of hair you will be chalking (complete 1 section at a time so the hair doesn't dry)

Step 3: Rub chalk on wet strand. Rub in ONE directions; either up or down, not both.

 

 

 

Continue with steps 1-3 until you have all the desired strands done.

 

 

Step 4: Lock the color; flat iron or curl the strands you have just colored with chalk to help the colors stay in.

 

 

 

 

 

Style as desired. I "curled" Binks hair with the flat iron; not going to lie though, I did rush through this step. Her hair doesn't take too well with curling using a flat iron, it takes a little more patience and time than I have available early in the morning. We'll play with these a little more over the weekend.

 

 

 

 

Do NOT let this stuff stay in over night, it will come off on pillows, clothes, blankets, and whatever else you or your child sleeps with. Come through chalk to loosen and wash every night just like you would normally wash your hair.

 

 

 

Now go pick up some chalk pastels, get creative and share your pics with us!

 

 







Happy Mother's Day ladies!

     Happy Mother's Day to all of you wonderful mothers in the world today; the mommy to be, the grandma, the one that serves as mommy and daddy; today is your day and you are all special to your families and deserve to be appreciated and celebrated!

    

 

 

My Mother's day stated yesterday. I've been wanting a new patio set so that's what I got. Not as easy as I thought it should be however. That crap is expensive in case you didn't know. I picked out a cute little bistro set from Target, not what I originally wanted but I do love it. I was originally wanting something that seated 4+ people since we do like to entertain but I just don't have $1,000+ to spend on a set right now. Besides I always have a habit of what else I can buy with that kind of money. I tend to be a little more frugal these days, I guess having 4 kids will do that to you.

 

 

 

Since I'm the only baker in the house, I took this opportunity to bake some cupcakes and icing from scratch. I'm in love with Canoli(s)(ies) (I'm not really sure what the plural of canoli is but you get my point, right?). Let me tell you, recipe was super easy, broke my mixer, icing was super easy, DOESN'T TASTE LIKE CANOLI. The powdered sugar taste is very strong in the icing and the cupcake mix tastes just like regular yellow cake mix. I'm not complaining though, it was a good bonding moment since I had Binks helping me late last night. We (I) iced them this morning then enjoyed one while the kids played outside. While the selfish side of me wants to keep all of the cupcakes to myself, I think I will at least let the kids have one a piece.

 

 

 

There's no way on Earth I'm giving my toddler one since the sugar is pretty strong in them so I made her and the other kids some kabobs with strawberry slices, banana slices, and pound cake.

 

 

 

 

 And because it is ~My~ day, I got to choose dinner. We will be dining on some yummy Chicken Sandwiches (on buns), with lettuce, tomato, onion, and bacon. Because ya know, bacon makes everything better! I can't wait to bite into the deliciousness that is grilled chicken!

 

Miracle Cream

     A couple weeks ago we took the family to Downtown Disney for a little down time.  We had an amazing time and the kids actually had fun, every one of them with the exception of Sophie. After all she was only about 2 months old.

     We stayed at the Buena Vista Palace Hotel and Spa. I must say this is by far the best hotel we've stayed at so far. Concierge service, valet parking, 24 hour pools, and best of all, we got to treat the kids to breakfast with Pluto, Goofy, and Minnie.

 

We visited every shop at downtown Disney. Matt's favorite being the huge Lego Store. They had lego statues of the seven dwarfs and a dragon coming up out of the water. It was pretty cool to see. You can't help but to just stand there and admire all the hard work. I wouldn't want to be the person or one of the people that made them though. I can't believe I didn't get a photo of the dragon. Hmm, looks like I have an excuse to go back!

 

I need to mention Jay and mine's favorite store though. We didn't really think about going into Basin the first day, actually I'm not really sure what made us go in to begin with but we stopped to check it out before we left to come back home. Basin is nothing but bath and beauty products. Of course I had to grab some bath bombs. They had some really cute ones for kids. I picked up a Mickey one and Princess one for Brooklyn. The Mickey bath bomb had little pieces of Mickey head confetti that came out has the bomb fizzled down, the confetti fizzled out eventually too but it did last a while. The only thing I didn't like about that one was the fact that the water was close to turning black from the Mickey heads. Her princess bomb had a "surprise" in the middle, nothing exciting really, it was only a quarter machine ring; which she can't play with because she's too young. I picked up some bombs for myself, which I must say left my skin feeling very soft. The scents were amazing too. Upon check out, Jay found the best product of all, a solid moisture stick.

 

He puts this on his feet and back every day before work, doesn't have a single back ache all day. And let me tell you, he's on his feet all day with his back going out regularly. Some friends of ours were pretty skeptical about this product, but after a long night of sitting in my hard chairs playing games at the dining room table, they will be buying some for themselves now. Whit has problems with her ankle that pain pills wont touch, she rubbed this stuff on and felt the tingle right away. She said it didn't take the pain completely away but it did make it more than just manageable. Her fiancé Bob loved it on his back too. Pain gone with just a rub of a stick! Now you don't have to go to Downtown Disney just to buy this awesome stuff either. They have a website! So while you are sitting at your computer or have your phone in your had reading this, please take the time to pamper yourself and grab some of this miracle cream! While you're there, pick up some of their shampoo and conditioner bars and let me know how they work!

 

 

 

Update 5/10/13: I just went by Basin.com to order another moisture stick, I'm thinking it will be cheaper to drive the 2 hours to Orlando. $13.50 for shipping? Are you fucking kidding me?