A Dress Deal

See this adorable dress... Details HERE

Cute right? And $65. Yeah I bought it. For five minutes. LUCKILY I had to walk to JCPenney to get to my car. We happen to check out the dresses and LOOK WHAT WE FOUND:

IT IS THE EXACT SAME DRESS. I mean down to the pattern. The only difference is a little beading on the shoulders. The New York & Co dress had no beading on the shoulders. The JCP one had beading. And how much was it? FULL PRICE? $35. Yup. FOR THE EXACT SAME DRESS.

SOLD. So the lesson here? 1) Be an informed shopper and 2) Don't give up on JCPenney. They had some adorable dresses out and hello! Look at the price!!!

Shelves

My life is so amazing that I spent last night organizing the shoes in my closet. Out of control I tell you. Actually, I had more in mind than just organization. I have a mild touch of OCD when it comes to my closet...that's a lie. I am psychotic OCD about my closet. I couldn't handle looking at the mess of shoes on the shelves. THE SHELVES WERE BUILT FOR ORGANIZATION DANG IT. Not the anarchy that was happening. This is what I mean:Ew. And also, these are horribly crappy iPhone pics. Sorry. I had also found some shelf paper at Marshall's a while back for $6. I decided to give it a try. I wanted something in the backs of the shelves, but it seemed like a pain to try and paint or wallpaper. So shelf paper it is. First I removed, actually tossed, every shoe I owned into a giant pile on the floor. Let's just get this out of the way now: yes I own a stupid amount of footwear. And my stupid I mean I stopped counting at 75 pair. See? Told you. Anyhoo. I measured out the shelves and what is awesome about shelf paper is that they have the little grid thingy on the back so your lines are perfectly straight!!! I started in one corner and just smoothed them out along the length of the shelf...and that is it! EASY PEASY. And then I proceeded to restock the shelves according to color. MUCH BETTER :)I alternated shelves betweeen a zebra stripe and a gold geometric pattern... The pictures are AWFUL.

In real life (or better pics) they look sooo much better. This is phase one of ORGANIZE 2012: Closet Edition

Poor Chad. He has to live with my crazy every day :)

Fishing

Aidan did some fishing this weekend at Billy and Sally's pond across the road. Apparently the boys went to this pond because it has crappie. Apparently we only have bass and catfish. And apparently this is very important to know. I really only cared that the boys stopped smelling like fish before they came in the house. Aidan had a BLAST of course. They were out there for hours. It was cold, but sunny. Aidan didn't care.
You know what is worse than smelling like fish?? Going to church and smelling like a skunk. Yes. A skunk somehow made it's way in or around or CLOSE ENOUGH to our church basement that there was the awesome STENCH of said skunk for service on Sunday. My purse smelled skunky all day. It was hysterical. But also nauseating. So fishing and skunks. That was our weekend. We also went over to our friend's house Sunday to watch the Daytone 500, but that didn't happen. The race was rain delayed. So we just hung out and ate food--which is not really any different from what I would do even if the race was on. And there weren't any skunks there.

Homemade Snickers

Wait, wasn't Fat Tuesday yesterday??? Dang it. A day late. Oh well. Check out this awesome recipe for homemade Snickers. I LOVE Snickers, but those suckers are expensive!! And how much MORE fun is it to make something yourself???? I thought so!

via

Makes one 9 x 13 pan

Bottom Chocolate Layer:

1 1/4 c milk chocolate chips

1/4 c peanut butter

Thoroughly grease your baking dish. Melt ingredients in a saucepan or microwave, then pour into the dish. Spread evenly. Let cool and harden completely.

Nougat Layer:

1/4 c unsalted butter

1 c granulated sugar

1/4 c evaporated milk

1 1/2 c marshmallow fluff

1/4 c peanut butter

1 1/2 c salted peanuts roughly chopped

1 tsp vanilla extract

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add in sugar and milk; stir until dissolved and bring to a boil. Let cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add in fluff, peanut butter and vanilla, stirring until smooth. Turn off heat and fold in peanuts, then pour over bottom chocolate layer. Let cool completely.

Caramel Layer:

1- 14 ounce bag of caramels

1/4 c whipping cream

Combine ingredients in a saucepan over low heat. Let melt, stirring occasionally, until smooth (takes about 10 minutes). Pour over nougat layer and let cool completely.

Top Chocolate Layer:

1 1/4 c milk chocolate chips

1/4 c peanut butter

Melt ingredients together in a saucepan or microwave, then pour over caramel and spread until even. Let cool and harden completely.

Refrigerate for at least one hour before serving; cut as desired. These can stay at room temp but they do get smooshy/gooey. Refrigerated is waaay better :)

ENJOY!!!!!!! And also, this made me want to walk on the treadmill just from typing this.

John Deere Fun

I have a bunch of meetings this week so I thought I would share some of the fun stuff I found on Pinterest...

Adorable John Deere gift idea... VIA
My little Aidan LOVES John Deere. How fun is this John Deere cookie gift jar??? So easy to make...both the prepping and the actual cookies! Total win-win situation! The blog where these are even has free printable gift tags to add to yours. The cookie recipe is from Bakerella. You can find it all on Pinterest OF COURSE!

Sick Day

We have the nasty sniffles running through our house right now and Big E was taken down with it yesterday. Chad was with her in the morning and I came home in the afternoon. We all know what happens when she is with her daddy...I got this picture before I came home yesterday: In case you couldn't tell, that is the pack-n-play for her baby dolls. Never a dull moment. Even when she's sick.

These Days

First, it's our 7th anniversary! 7 years ago we were living it up in Hawaii getting hitched...can't believe it has been 7 years already!! Happy Anniversary, Chad!!

Next, let's update what our little Elin has been up to these days since she is growing like a weed!
-Developed a total attitude, and by that I mean both good and bad :)
-Says please, thank you, cheese (for pictures), up, mom, dad, baby, Aidan, Cookie, and other random words that she will just throw out there. She blabbers a lot.
-Nothing and no where is safe. She can open all of our house doors now (a tad tricky before since we have lever handles!! SMART!)
-She has the tiniest feet. It is so funny. They are just so small. Not skinny. Just small.
-She has no problem holding her own with Aidan and has had to be in trouble a few times for whacking the poor guy.
-LOVES her babies...She doesn't leave the house without her baby doll, sometimes two. And she will say "my baby!!!!!!!!!!" if we try. Such a little mother!
She will be 2 in May and it is crazy to think about. She has such a personality now and it's awesome. See you Monday!

Hello Kitty?!

I firmly believe that the Hello Kitty people out there probably LOVE what you are about to see. Those people tend to be bananas about their precious Kitty. I personally don't get it. Someone is Shanghai does though and apparently it's a big friggin' deal. Seriously. Someone created a Hello Kitty HOUSE... Let's just take that in for a moment shall we??? Wow. Yup. That actually happened. Look at this place:

VIA

I love me some pink, but this is out of control. The creepy kitty is everywhere!

Seriously, wouldn't you, as an adult, feel like such a creeper if you stayed in this house? If you didn't, you should.
The bedroom isn't as bad...

Look, it has a partner!

I don't even know what this place is, but it is next door to the Pink Palace and wowza...

You want to head to Shanghai ASAP don't you? Just to take in this masterpiece. I thought so.

Boys

I am quickly learning the ropes of having a boy. A five year old boy. He is ALL BOY. I remember last year as Chad was freaking out because Aidan loved pink and princesses and of course the hubs was dying. His fears of futures of hunting and burning stuff and tearing things up were shriveling up. I don't know how many times I assured Chad that it was a phase. Calm down, I am sure he will be shooting things before you know it. Well, the pink phase did not last long. Aidan won't even use a pink towel because "ew that is for girls." Of course. Aidan loves guns (not like in the creepy-una-bomber way, but the outdoorsy, redneck way), hunting, Stars Wars, Pokemon, sports and animals. And all things camoflauged. So this past weekend, I took my buddy to see Star Wars Episode 1 in 3D. Can I just tell you how much I hate 3D??? Not to mention it cost $18!!?!?!? for a 5 year old and I to watch a movie. Good grief! He loved it, of course. And me? OMG. I actually enjoyed it. I was shocked. I am actually wanting them to release the next one. Weird, I know! What was so funny is that Aidan wore his 3D glasses all of 5 minutes and then he watched it with naked eyes. I kept putting my glasses down to see what the heck he was seeing. I don't know how he didn't go cross-eyed. Kids. So I learned all about Darth Maul and Jar Jar Binks and "oh mom, that is the silly guy. And that is the BAAAAAAD guy..." And we ate a bunch of popcorn. Good times.

The other thing I am learning soooo much about?? Pokemon. Ah the Pokemon. Have you seen these things? I learn something new about Pikachu or Pine Cone or whatever they are called, every day. Aidan is obsessed. It involves cards and damage and power and other mystical things that I am clueless about. But you know what I am not clueless about?? PINTEREST. And look what I found there: POKEMON BIRTHDAY!

Aidan would probably fall over. And since I am 98% sure this will be the theme he requests, I am pumped that I found these. Well, it will be this or Star Wars...or maybe hunting. OR MAYBE A Camo-Jar Jar Binks hunting down a Pokemon???? NICE!!! So anyhoo, these are so adorable.

And if you have no idea what the little red and white "balls" are, you clearly don't have a little boy at home and should feel totally left out. Just kidding. I still don't know what the balls do. That sentence really speaks volumes :)

So THANK YOU Pinterest for making my life easier...and less productive!!

Diapers and Darts

Do you ever wonder what happens to your children when you leave them home for a few hours with their daddy?? I found out. Apparently it gets a little crazy... Pretty sure she isn't ACTUALLY drunk in this picture even though that is what her face says to me:

Clearly loving her daddy time: Happy Friday!

Dresser Re-Do

First, Cookie says, "What's up?!"
She is so ridiculous. And growing! Over 15 pounds now! What a baby. So her favorite place to hang is our closet. I knew she was my dog :) I am in the midst of super organizing our closet. It is pretty organized already thanks to my OCD, but it just isn't doing it anymore for me. I know. That is sad to say. The hangers are all mismatched and I haven't weeded through clothes in YEARS. Also I needed a space for tanks, Chad's gym shorts, various small items, etc. They were all piled on shelves and I. Hate. Piles. OMG DO I HATE PILES. So, first up, get rid of the piles. We had a little chest of drawers up in the toy room that I had found at Hobby Lobby for $30. It was white with purple/teal/orange/yellow stripes all over the front. Super cute for kids, but not what I wanted. I needed a quick fix. I have this problem with projects. I hate only partially finishing something. So. Painting wasn't really an option at the moment. I got some random scrap paper and my Mod Podge and went to work.
This is what I ended up with: I wish I had a before. Dang it. I covered the drawers with a leopard print paper and actually has sort of velvety-fuzzy spots on it. The Mod Podge handled it just fine. I reattached the original handles and voila! Ignore the lovely basket next to the dresser...I have to find the perfect hamper still.
That is one of the many bins I have purchased sitting on top right there to continue with the organizing...it would be a Cookie-casualty if it wasn't off the ground :)

SUPER EASY. Mod Podge does it all people. So now I have a snappy new place to store my littles. Important to remember? Don't put the drawers back in until the Podge is COMPLETELY dry..that bottom drawer was a you-know-what to open the next day when I realized it finished drying with the drawer closed. WHEW.
Look, Cookie is giving you the stink eye whilst hiding under Chad's clothes...

She's a feisty one I tell you...

Last Weekend

Blogging has just not been a priority this week. Eh. You don't want me to ramble just for the same of rambling, right? I am sure Chad wishes that was the case at home too :)

Last weekend the men of the house took to cutting down trees and burning them. My boys love to burn stuff. Oh dear. The weather has been so crazy awesome lately that we have been outside a bunch. Elizabeth and Bobby came for a visit as well. Elin was so excited to see her aunt! She is also very proud of her belly. She will gladly show you at any time. Hope she keeps up with that killer confidence ;)

The day after the burn pile, the kiddos played outside again. Crazy that it is winter and we are hanging outside in light jackets?!? So Aidan broke out his bike and Elin was just going to follow where ever he decided to go. He loves going to our side "yard" where all the tall wheat-grass grows. PS...wheat doesn't mean we are farmers. Definitely not. That makes me laugh just thinking about it. We have a wheat-fescue mix in our yard...don't ask me why...something about staying green, deer/wildlife love it and something else. Aidan loves it to play in because he can hide in the taller grass and "hunt" things. Well Ein will NOT sit in the grass. Duh. What girl wants to do that?? So she hauled her little chair over to him. It was quite a task.

I think she is starting to rethink the distance she is carrying her chair. She kept turning around to me with the look on her face of "uh really?"
Eh, she quit before she got to the grass. The rocks will do just fine.

She was over it pretty quickly. She was done. Enough outdoors thanks

Aidan and Cookie would NOT come in for anything

Elin packed up her chair and then started pushing her little scooter back to the garage. She was DONE.

Yeah, she gave up about 2 feet later. She just left it all and went inside. The chair stayed in the middle of the driveway and the poor tricycle was in the rocks. Perserverence is not her strong point currently :)

My outdoors boy:

Our front "yard" in the gloomy winter:

It was so nice to be outside. Such a tease for spring! It is back to winter temps this week...booooo. Oh well. It had to happen I guess!!

That's my boy!

Brownie Time

Enjoy some random brownie-making photos (AKA...children eating all the batter...AKA my daughter does not like to wear shirts) courtesy of a very blurry cell phone :)

After baking? Time for an evening read...Happy Friday all!

Real Houswives: Camille

So are you watching the Housewives reunion??? GOOD STUFF. It's a 3 part reunion in case you missed that!! This was just the first episode this week. Do you remember the episode that the ladies went to Camille's house in Beaver Creek?? I was IN LOVE with that place. It was actually featured in Architectural Digest (when she was actually married to Kelsey Grammar). via
Isn't that amazing? I could totally live there. I believe they still own the house and are actually still making arrangements on who gets what (yeah, I learned that on Monday while watching the reunion hehe).
See? This episode:

You have to remember Lisa's hat!!
Let's look around:

All images from the AD website

My most favorite thing about that whole house? The staircase.

When I think of rustic design...I think of this place.

I definitely think Chad and I should own a lodge-y mansion in the mountains...don't you??