Hide and Seek!

These are pom poms made from tissue paper for Phena's daughters wedding, she used the to decorate the gym and they looked really good and were super easy to make. Autumn and I made over 50 of them. These were some that I was going to take to the church and I kept hearing a rustling noise coming from the middle of them. All of a sudden one of the cats jumped from inside this pile and it was so funny. They continued to play on these till I moved them to the table before they could get torn, but not before I took some pics of Rascal and Licorice playing hide and seek with each other.

 Can you see Rascal?

 If not here is a better view!

She was so funny!

                                                                     Here comes DIVA!


They had fun, and it was fun watching them. I might just make some for them to play in!



Spare Room Makeover!

So we decided that when we got our tax return we would get the spare room ready. Many of you have seen the spare room before and knew that we had the washer and dryer in there and it took up a lot of space and made that room very cluttered and crowded. There was a perfect spot for the washer and dryer downstairs and so we begin the monumental task of transforming the spare room. It took us about a month of weekends to get it complete but we did it together!

Here we go!

 We started by moving the washer and Dryer out and having a good friend in our ward that has a business called G5 plumbing and he came and did all the plumbing for the move to the downstairs, they did it in a day and that was great because you don't ever want to miss a day of laundry! So then Jason started the demo and ripping out the carpet ( I didn't get a pic sorry). I did however get a picture of what I was doing and that was the tile in the hallway. The bedroom was nice wood floors, but the hallway had linoleum. I chipped away at that all day one Saturday and it was the WORST. I  got the top layer and under that was a layer of black tar paper. That would not come off no matter how hard I worked at it. We finally had to but some caustic material to eat away at it enough for us to scrape it off. But guess what was under that tar paper? GRRRR another layer of linoleum! The hallway took up the majority of the work but it looks much better now, more pics to come on that one.

 We sanded the floors in one night, we rented the sander late on a Monday and took it back Tuesday morning. We sanded till about 12:00 that night. It was loud and the kids had a hard time getting any sleep because as soon as we would stop, we would start right up again. There was dust everywhere but in the end we had a very nice sanded floor and hallway. (We used 25 grit sandpaper to eat through the tile in the hallway)

 This is the wall where the washer and dryer was, it was in a big closet. We had to repair the wall with drywall and seal around the window.

 See the drywall behind Jason? Right now he is putting the primer on the walls.

 Can you see the floor through the plastic? We didn't want to get paint all over it. This is the first coat of primer.

 I wanted and accent wall in brown, Jason picked the light brown that looks more yellow (I called it baby poop) I went and picked out the darker brown and got to work covering the other stuff.

 I did the first layer and Jason came in and finished the rest.

 This is the new home of the washer and dryer, it fits perfectly right here and the space around was really not being utilized for anything and so why not? It already had a floor drain and everything. We used to store the winter totes and other random items here.

 We moved our shelves down too and now whoever has the downstairs living room, is in charge of changing out the laundry everyday.

 Our finished product upstairs! I got the comforter to match the accent wall. The curtains also match the comforter. It turned out so so beautiful that I like to keep the door to this room open so that I can see it whenever I walk by.

 This bookshelf sits where the washer and dryer closet used to be.

 This is the view into the hallway, I stand right in that doorway and admire our handy work, its so great!

This is what I did when we were all done!

Jason worked so hard and so did the kids (we used a lot of FHE nights to work on this). 

But now are open for business, any takers?

I know someone out there wants to stay in this beautiful bedroom!

An Artfull Saturday!

This last Saturday Jason was invited to participate in an event at the Nox Contemporary Gallery called "Draw".

For the exhibition, all participants were given the same time frame (8 hours) and the same size paper on which to work. The catch: Each artist will be limited to using only a over sized No. 2 pencil and one other drawing medium of the artist's choice, the latter of which will be attached to a dowel the length of his or her body height.

Jason brought his pen and ink supplies and went to town! I was there for the day as well cheering him on while I worked on my latest cross stitch. It was a really long day, but fun to see what the other artists did. The opening for the show is this Friday, I hope lots of people come to it!

Jason does some Amazing pen and ink drawings, many people liked this tree that he did. He spent the majority of his time on it and didn't have time to finish much else. I think it looks fantastic!

By the time he was done his back was killing him, but I think he had fun.

Addi's randomness....

So lately I have found some of Addi's toys in random ways. You saw what he did with poor spider man, well here are a few more unusual setups.

 Woody on a skateboard on top of a box of play dough? I asked Addi what Woody was doing and he told me that he was tired from skateboarding and playing with the play dough when we weren't looking.

 Of course he said the was a battle between good and evil, not sure who won this one. Maybe that's how spidey ended up taped to the table?

 Another stack of randomness? I have no idea why....

 Addi doing his Webb Shooters!

Spidey looks beat!

Spiderman has been Kidnapped!

(click on photo for a closer look)

If anyone would like to see this webbed crusader again, you will send Addason $1 million pennies care of Kim (his Mother).
MWHAHAHAHA!

 

I was going into the kitchen to make lunch and I saw this. I quickly grabbed my camera because it was so funny! Addi had taken the red tape off the Bananas (the red tape bananas are cheaper, and go bad faster for banana bread) and wrapped up Spider man. I guess Venom won this round!

Do you have a shadow like mine?

So you all know that Licorice is MY cat. She really tolerates the kids and she likes other adults but for some reason she really likes to follow me around. She is literally my shadow. For some reason on this day she would not leave me alone. She followed me everywhere and whatever I was doing she had to get in the middle of it. I LOVE her but sometimes you need a little space from your shadow.

After showering (she hung out in the sink, till I was done) and then I was trying to get dressed and all she wanted was for me to pick her up and carry her around on my shoulder.

 So I did for a little while, but I really needed to get some work done and sooooooo

 She decided to help me out by sitting in my chair or right on my keyboard, locking out my computer and I had no idea how to unlock it. I finally got it unlocked but had to put her outside my room and close both doors.

I got up a little while later and there she was waiting for me outside my door and followed me as I went into the bathroom.

 I eventually had to put her outside so she could get some air and clear her head. It didn't work because when she came back in she was right there with me till I went to bed that night.

On a good note she is getting much better at getting along with Rascal and Pearl, she will actually play with them now! She still is the head honcho and we are all impressed; however we are starting to see her softer side as well.

I just love out kitties!

Pecan crusted French Toast......so Yummy!

We went to a restaurant in Washington once that had the Yummiest breakfast choices. I chose Pecan crusted french toast and Jason had the cinnamon role french toast. His was good, but mine was better. I have been recreating this dish for a while now trying to get it just right. Here is what I came up with. Its super easy and uses items that I usually have at home.

 I always have some sort of French bread laying around that has gotten old, and this is perfect for french toast. Did you know you were supposed to use stale bread to make it? I learned that on the food network.

 Melt some butter in your pan. Get your egg and milk mixture all ready. I always add a little flavored creamer to my mixture; it gives it a nice flavor. This time I chose Hazelnut.

 My coating is cornflakes, pecans, cinnamon and sugar. I crushed the cornflakes and pecans and added a teaspoon of cinnamon and a teaspoon of sugar. I rolled my bread in this and made sure to coat all the sides.

 I cooked it on both sides till it was a golden brown. I like to put my french toast in the oven for ten min or so, because I don't like the middle to be SOGGY....that's just gross!

 I took the leftover coating and fried it up in the pan; it gets nice and toasted.

I top my french toast with this Syrup; we have a local restaurant that uses this same syrup and it is to die for! We had a good breakfast that lasted us most of the day, they are very filling!

Items needed

Eggs

bread

milk

cinnamon

sugar

cereal (cornflakes, honey bunches of oats)

butter

buttermilk (if you dont have it you can make it by adding a tblsp of vinegar to a cup of milk and let it sit

pecans