My sister came to visit!!

SO! This week has gone by wicked fast with my sister and her boyfriend here! We have been doing a million things, and I have been working! It has been great having them here =) One more (busy) day with them tomorrow and then they are heading back home .. =(

My sister took our family pictures, and pictures of the dogs. This was not an easy task!! She had better luck with the dogs in my back yard then when we were out! The family pictures came out amazing! My husband and I had worked that day, and so by the time we got to Garden of the Gods where we were planning to take the pictures, we had barely half an hour before the sun was down, if that. The dogs wanted to play and not sit and look in the same direction. There were other people and animals there distracting them as well. (I could upload about 15 pictures that are all my "favorites," but I wont)

We seem to have to "run to the store real quick" everyday, and finding new craft projects to do while we are there, of course! I took a few pictures of things we made this week, I will share our version soon! I thing we have done something crafty almost every day!

Today they were off to a wedding so my husband and I were able to get some yard work done, wash the car, and play with the puppies for a long while! We also watched this amazing film 'Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead,' which I strongly recommend everyone see!! Very inspiring, weather you have to lose weight or not. I will elaborate in my next post =)

Thing 1, Thing 2 & Dr. Seuss!

Since I don't have kids, I usually buy my dogs costumes every year. Usually at Ross because they are cheap there. This year I wanted all three dogs to have a theme for their costumes. I also wanted to make them =)

I decided on Dr. Seuss & Thing 1 and Thing 2! This is how I made them (and extremely cheap, too!)

Went to Good Will and bought two red baby onsies to make the little dogs Thing 1 & 2. I had to cut and sew one of them to make it a little smaller. One was .19 cents and the other .49 cents! Cant beat that. Then I bought some white felt (.35 cents) and wrote in black paint "Thing 1" and "Thing 2." I bought some tulle at Hobby Lobby, half a yard for .52 cents, even though i knew it would be way to much. I cut strips and tied them to a bobby pin. Done with their costumes! So easy.

For Makenzie, Dr. Seuss, all I needed was a hat and a red bow tie. I used the white felt I had, and bought some red felt. I made the hat by cutting a cereal box and hot gluing the felt on. Easy! I had to buy a roll of red ribbon with wire to make the bow tie. Total for her costume $2.35!

Aren't they so cute!? I will post some pics of the babies in their costumes soon =)

*Coffee Table Upcycle*

I am in LOVE! Our coffee table turned out amazing!! Before and After :

This table is really only a year and a few months old. Of course this was bought back in the day when I wasn't as ambitious. So, about a week after we got our nice new table, Mr. Harley came to live with us and being a puppy.. he decided to chew on the table every chance he got. The bottom shelf on the table was that fake wood and so with three little babies running around, bumping into it, crawling over it, sleeping on it, etc. it was looking a little run down to say the least. Also, I absolutely hated cleaning the glass. I would clean it, and I swear 10 minutes later it was dusty and dirty again. I wanted it gone ASAP!

After browsing and browsing "coffee table make-overs" I had made up my mind. I showed the husband a picture and said, "we are doing this tonight!" I swear I have the best husband in the world because he said OK and we started measuring!

*Pictures from along the way:

We removed the shelf, measured, cut, sanded, painted, nailed, and stained! Whew, a lot of work. But well worth it. I still have to get some polyurethane and seal the top, but this was just yesterday that we made this. I am also considering another coat of stain (I feel like the color is to similar to the floor), or a rug for underneath. I would love a rug, but then I come to reality - three dogs with muddy feet, chewed up toys and dog hair. No thanks.

We are both really pleased with the outcome! I have the side table that matched the old coffee table, still deciding on if we should make it look like the new coffee table, or do something different with it.

Photos!

I am SO awful at photography, but... my sister is amazing at photography! She also is coming for a visit tomorrow! She will be here for a week =) yay!

While she is here I am going to have her give me some pointers on how to stage my pictures so you can see my projects better! I do own a digital camera, I just NEVER use it! I am addicted to the convenience of my camera phone!

Also, while she is here I hope to have her help in painting some horizontal stripes!! I have been wanting to dot his for a looonggg time now. I started penciling and taping the lines in my craft room. That's as far as I got before I was bored with it, as you know I hate painting! Spray paint is my best friend =)

I do have a few other projects that we might get done while she is here, too. Kevin said to me today, "Are you going to be able to make it a whole week with out doing a project while your sister is here?" Uhm, no! haha I constantly have ideas rolling through my brain... I also catch myself saying (way to much) "don't throw that away!" He thinks I'm crazy, I know.

Baked Potato Soup

This is a REALLY easy crock pot recipe! It was delish! Don't have any pictures along the way... Sorry!

What you need:
8 cups potatos
1 big container of chicken broth
1 small can or 1/2 big can of cream of chicken soup
1 pkg cream cheese
1lb bacon *or, bacon bits that come in the package*
Sour cream
Green onions, chopped
Shredded cheese

What you do:
Put potatos, chicken broth and cream of chicken in the crock pot on low for 6 to 8 hours. When potatos are soft, add cream cheese and stir until creamy. *If you used real bacon, you could stir it in right now if you would like* Pour into bowls, top with bacon, sour cream, green onions, and cheese! Yum! Enjoy

Breakfast Burritos

Yumm.. they are so good, and healthy!

I decided to make these one day because I don't (90% of the time) buy processed food anymore, but I don't enjoy always having to cook up a whole meal, and eating the same thing for a few days. I am now a big fan of freezing meals/food.

This is really easy. Start by peeling and chopping up the potatoes and put the in the oven (I don't add any butter or oils, you could, but you really don't need to), 350* for about 40 minutes, or just until they are soft and cooked.

While that is cooking, brown your sausage *or- use any left over meat that you have, I used left over ham from Easter once*. At the same time, make your scrambled eggs- I used 12 eggs.

Take whatever left over veggies you have- tomato's, peppers, anything you want. This time I used some green onions that we had left over.

By this time, the potatoes should be done. Now you take plastic wrap, pull off a piece big enough to wrap the burrito. Place the tortilla on top of that. Layer with all the goodies, top with cheese, and wrap up!

This recipe make as many or as little as you would like! With 12 eggs, about 8 or 10 small potatoes, 1lb sausage, and 1/2 pkg cheese I made 21. Place in the freezer. When you are ready to eat, take them out of the plastic wrap and microwave for about 2 minutes.

And of course you have 3 little babies just waiting for something to drop! =)

We Made Our Own Trim =)

Before Pictures of the windows, yes, I forgot to take one of

the kitchen window and I could dig around

because I know I have one somewhere, but I'm lazy.

Yep, we did! After making the frames the other day, I got to thinking... our trim board around the floor and around the doors aren't to fancy.... Why not make our own with a router and some 1x4's? We cut the 1x4's in half so they are now 1x2's. Then, we (and when I say "we" I mean he) used the MIL's router on the inside edge. Its a plain, simple, small round edge. But, we aren't to fancy of people so it works for us! We then measured, and cut the boards to the correct size, nailed them up, caulked the edges, sanded and painted. Whew!! A lot of work! It made a HUGE difference on the windows! We just did two windows, one in the kitchen and one in the living room.

I have been wanting to make some new curtains

that match for those two windows, so this gave me

a good excuse =) I will upload the tutorial tomorrow for those. I kinda just made it up as I went along today, but I will be making a second one tomorrow after work and will take pictures along the way! The one I made today I am not thrilled with, I will be making some alterations to that tomorrow, too!

Will add some more finished pictures tomorrow!!