Tag...Your It!

My Sister-in-law, Wendy, tagged me on "7 things" so...here are 7 things:

1. I am an Interior Designer, I get to do lots and lots of shopping for my clients. Now this sounds fun, and don't get me wrong, I LOVE IT! The only downfall is while I am shopping, I always find things that I need. Not good on the pocketbook! I may have a shopping addiction, but can it be an addiction when it is your job???

2. I like to think that I can sing "Opera" music. So I belt out the tunes for my boys. They usually put their hands over their ears and start laughing and so "Oh no! Not again!" I keep thinking I can perfect my new talent and share with all of you. Ben hasn't even heard my "secret talent!"

3. When I was in High School I was in a hit and run accident and ever since then I have to memorize the license plates of the cars around me by have some sort of name put to the letters of the plate. For example if this was a license plate number: 123 NYM it is 123 New York Minute and there you go, it is memorized and if they hit me, I know where to find them!

4. I think that the DVR or TIVO was the best invention EVER! What's not to love about watching a 1 hour show in 45 minutes without any commercials?? Love that!

5. I hide a bag of mini chocolates and eat one a day and if my boys ask for one I tell them it is mommy's medicine. How wrong is that?

6. I am scared to death to get prego again because I know it will be a boy and two boys is really hard and I can only imagine what three is like! So, I don't want anyone else to ask me when #3 is coming because it's not for awhile!! Unless I have a dream and learn I will have a girl and then I will get on that! I'm just trying to get pumped for boy #3.

and last but not least...
7. I really, really, really want my business to turn into party planning. I love to plan parties and all the little details. Big, small, whatever. I love a party. So, I expect you all to hire me to plan all your big occasions and have a one of a kind party!

Now, in about 3-4 days I will be checking the following peoples blogs because you are now tagged!
Katie, Gwen, Jenna, Jenny Cook, Jennie Gee (now you have something to put in your blog!), Kandice, Kellie, Sharlyn, Mitzi, Michy (you too Mich, blog away!), Jamie and Ashley!
Lots of people, lots to read in a few days!!

2 Girls and a Book

Just so you all know: me and my cousin Jennie started a new blog together! We were talking and decided how we hate spending all this money on a book just to find out that it is kind of "raunchy". We don't want to read books with tons of curse words or other content. So, we thought with the help of friends and people we don't know, we could have a blog where we rate the book on how much we liked the book and how clean it is. Hope you have fun picking a new book you want to read from our selection and others! If you want to post a book review, email us at: summerandjennie@gmail.com

So, you are wondering what the blog is?

http://2girlsandabook.blogspot.com

Let us know what you think!

Picture Bracelet

How adorable is this bracelet? I went to an art class and we made these! There are 9 little pictures of my adorable boys, printed on shriky dinks in black and white, then chalked bits of them, punch tiny holes for the o-ring, put them in the oven and they come out tiny! You just put the o-rings in the holes and add the closure. So easy and so fun.

Awesome Picture Frame That I Made

I thought that I would share with you this picture frame that I made. I was so proud of it that I wanted to show it!
I got this cute wooden picture frame from Hobby Lobby (can I just tell you how much I love that store???), painted it black. Tore some paper and chalked it. Then I glued it down, then Modge Podged it. Add a few embelleshments and VOILA! Beautiful picture frame. And yes, I do realize that there are no people in the picture smiling, but I love this picture I took in France. Beautiful eh?

Christmas Scrapbook Page

My friend Jenny let me know about this website called www.scrapblog.com and let me tell you how much fun I have had! Thanks Jenny! Anyway, here is one page I have done while we are all trying to get feeling better. If any of you try it out, let me know what you think!

Chicken Noodle Soup

I just wanted to share a recipe...It is perfect for us sick people. It is a nice creamy, chunky chicken noodle soup. My mom always made this for us when me and my siblings were sick. Thanks Mom! I hope you enjoy!
Chicken Noodle Soup
(I think it may be from the Lion House Cookbook)

3 c. chicken broth
2 c. chopped carrots
2 c. chopped celery
4 c. chopped onion
2 cans cream of chicken soup
2 c. cooked chicken, diced or shredded
4 c. cooked noodles
salt and pepper to taste

Boil chicken in water. (You can add chicken bouillon to make the chicken broth). Cook vegetables in chicken broth, after chicken is done. Cook noodles after vegetables are soft for as long as directed on package. Add cream of chicken soup then add chicken. Add salt and pepper to taste. Don't boil/simmer for too long.

Serves a family of 4 sick people for several days! Enjoy!

Whatever You do This Week, Make Sure You...

GET A FLU SHOT!!! Let me just tell you a little story. A very sad story. It all started on Tuesday. I was shopping for one of my clients, and I started to cough. I couldn't stop coughing. So I thought I must be getting a cold. Well, then Wednesday came, and I woke up sooooo sick. However, being sick and being a mom do not mix well together. Ben came home a bit early that day to let me sleep some. Then on Thursday, Ben took the boys to preschool and then took me to the Dr. Turns out I have the flu. Ben stayed home from work that day, thank goodness! We got me all settled and on the way to getting better! We are (were) going to Austin for the 3 day weekend, tons of hiking and picnics planned! Obviously that didn't happen! Then I take the medicine that was prescribed, I break out in hives, major hives. That is $50 down the drain for medicine I can't take! Then comes Friday. Ben gets the flu, and later that night, Caden does too. Next morning, Noah gets the flu and our neighborhood had a power outage when we woke up. We were all bundled together freezing in the blankets. What else could go wrong? Now after so many visits, I think the urgent care place is starting to recognize us. So 3 Dr. visits and well over $550 and no Austin trip, you get these pictures: Yes, four people and this much medicine (I think there is even some missing??), I had a hard time remembering when it had been 4-6 hours and when to take what!
This is our campground. Ben was on the sofa, me and the boys on the air mattress, during the day. At night time, Ben had one boy in our bed, and I had one boy on the air mattress. Worked out pretty good. We are starting to get a bit of a routine. Sleeping lots and lots. Eating next to nothing. Drinking TONS.
This is Noah today. He is feeling a bit better. He had to dress himself today, I'm not sure what he is sporting? Maybe a Soccer,Cowboy,Snowboarder?
We are hoping to be somewhat better tomorrow, Ben has the day off, but I bet we end up camped out in the family room for a few more days! Hope you all have a much better 3-day weekend than we had! Oh, and please, get a flu shot, you don't want to end up with disaster like this one! I just don't know how I forgot to get flu shots this year! The one year we didn't...

What's in a Name?

I have finally decided to take my Interior Design business to a whole new level (website, business cards, stationary, etc...), and because of this decision, I need to be official with a name. I have been all over the place with what to name my business, and since there is a function to have a poll (which will be on the right side...please vote or leave a comment!!) and vote, I thought I would let you all help me decide what to name my company. I'm going to name a few and have an option for "other". If you choose other, please leave a comment on one of your brilliant ideas! I could really use your help! I'll let you know the finally outcome on what I have decided! Thanks!

The Key Word is EYE LEVEL!

Most of you know that I am an Interior Designer and one of the questions I get asked the most is, "What do I do with my pictures?" Well, this is one idea people can do:

* I just got a really cheap rod from Target, you can see I it is hung pretty high up, you want the middle picture to be EYE LEVEL,

* Then get several similar picture frames (in same color) and have the same matt for each picture frame. Here I have 3 (5x7) pictures, 1 (8x10) picture, and 1 (3x5) picture, the frames are bigger.

* Get some really thick ribbon and a glue gun and glue the ribbon to the back of the picture frame. You are also going to want to still nail the pictures to the wall, otherwise they will move and swing back and forth.

* Then tie the ribbon to the rod.

* Voila, a nice way to hang several pictures to the wall.

* Now, a bit of a lecture on my biggest pet peeve...PLEASE, please, please hang your pictures at EYE LEVEL! Whatever is in between for you and spouse...that is eye level. You don't want people to come into your home and have to crank their necks up to the ceiling to see your pictures. Thank you, I feel better now.

* And just so you know, the picture was taken at an angle, but my frames are straight! Which is VERY important!

Fourth Times A Charm???

At around 9:55 p.m. this evening I get a call from my DH telling me he has run out of gas and he is on the side of a major freeway and wants me to get some gas and fill him up a bit. Now, this wouldn't be so bad, but this is the THIRD time in less than a year that he has done this. So I have to gather both boys, put them in the car, fill up the gas cans and go fetch the husband, then I have to put the boys back to bed (try to get them to go back to sleep), and get the awful smell of gas off of me and out of my brand new car. I'm just a bit bugged right now. I'm wondering if he is ever going to get the hint that when his car is on "E" that means it is almost empty and to fill up with gas so I don't have to get out of my comfy pj's to pick him up again...We will see if he has learned his lesson.

Christmas Activities!

On Christmas Eve our family elf, Scweegicuns (I have no idea how to spell that), left the boys some cute P.Js to wear for Christmas morning. They were so excited for Christmas morning they had a hard time going to sleep (like most kids I'm sure). They woke up at 6 a.m. and were ready to go...Too bad Santa forgot to put out the BIG presents, luckily we remembered were he hid them! OOPS! After we opened presents at our home, we went to Ben's parents home and spent the day there. Then we went to Houston and spent New Years with my parents. It was a nice relaxing holiday.

We went to a Christmas party and while we were there we had a special "visitor"...SANTA. It was so fun to see how excited the kids were. Santa gave each kid a present while they told him what they want for Christmas. Then he read them "The Night Before Christmas". Very fun and very cute. I hope we can do this every year. (Sorry, I'm new at this posting thing, and I can't figure out how to get the pictures the right way, just turn your head to the side and imagine how cute my boys are:-)




My family came for Thanksgiving and "Mimi" brought a fun Gingerbread house, so we built, we conquered, we ate all the candy. At least a few things made it onto the House!

It's About Time!

So I've had several people bugging me about having a blog and then shutting it down. I have finally decided to get it up again and put not just family things on here, but all sorts of fun, random things. I'm excited! Now, I just need to let everyone know that I have a blog and it is up and running...pass the word!