Monday, October 31, 2011

Tips. Mami Calendar.

Between the weekly Doctor's appointments, school activities, my husband's shift schedule, and our Nanny's hours I was inevitably forgetting missing one thing or another.  Enter "The Calendar" - otherwise known as "Our Life" (here's a shout out for my BFF Christine for this idea - love you girlie!).  My husband has fought this tooth-and-nail since he uses his phone calendar capabilities.  Thats great, but I don't have access to his phone calendar when I am cooking dinner while scheduling a Doctor's appointment for two weeks out!  So......since we have many appointments and work schedules to create, "The Calendar" is where it's all set in stone.


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Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Story. Peanut butter and honey sandwich.

When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts.  A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child.  ~Sophia Loren, Women and Beauty
I’m a bad Mami.  There…I’ve said it.  I feel terrible – I really do.  My 8 year old came home yesterday and said to me:

“Mami, you HAVE to give me money for lunch tomorrow.  They had my favorite lunch today and I couldn’t get it.  It was hamburgers…and they are WAY better than McDonald’s.  They said I had, like, negative money in there and so I couldn’t get it.  They gave me a cheese stick and a peanut butter and honey sandwich.  Mom…that’s like the 2nd time I’ve had a peanut butter and honey sandwich this year!  I didn’t have one once in 1st grade.  My friend Mark was crying the other day because he had to have a peanut butter and honey sandwich.  I felt like crying today but I didn’t.” 
The dreaded peanut butter and honey sandwich.  Apparently there is a stigma that comes with that lunch.  I hope he is not scarred for life over the experience…I slipped a $50 check in his backpack…no more peanut butter and honey sandwiches!
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Sunday, October 23, 2011

Story. Washer bite.


You can learn many things from children.  How much patience you have, for instance.  ~Franklin P. Jones
Yesterday I opened the door to my front loading washing machine and saw this.


I immediately called my 4 year old to come over.  I said to him “Honey, did you bite Mami’s washing machine?”.  “Hmmm….well….I would never be THAT hungry Mami.”  So I looked at him some more.  After a few seconds he says “Actually, I did bite it Mami.  I’m sorry.”  He could not tell me why he did it – if he was angry or not.  When I asked him if he ate the plastic or if he spit it into the garbage he said “Well, actually, I put it in the garbage can so the garbage man has it now.” <sigh>
He is my challenge…but I love him to pieces.  
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Saturday, October 22, 2011

Craft. Landscape Pumpkins.


I totally stole this idea from someone at Walmart.  A woman was talking to her friend in the Halloween isle while I just happened to be buying some goodies for the Pumpkin Carving party (which you’ll see more of in a later post).  She mentioned how she purchased several of those Halloween trick-or-treat buckets for $1 each and cut out the bottom and placed it over her landscape lights.  Brilliant!!  After throwing a few of these buckets in my basket, I promptly went home and did just that! 









You get a little peak of this in the other picture but I thought I'd give you a closer look.  This was a wedding present from my dad's wife - she made it.  It was beautifully potted with Ferns for 'hair' and had TONS of moss all over her.  This was the perfect fit for our Garden-themed wedding and I still love it 10 years later.  She now sits proudly on our front porch for all to enjoy.
Years ago, I saw this sign in a magazine and said to my husband "I can make that!" and so I did.  Plywood, pencil, paint, saw, and wire were all I needed.
I love Halloween.

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Friday, October 21, 2011

Seen & Heard. Cricut cartridge storage by Recollections.

There are plenty of good ideas for Cricut cartridge storage out there and they keep coming.  There’s this , and this , and this, and my personal favorite – this.  Here is what I used:

….that is until I went to Michael’s yesterday and saw this at 40% off which made it only $14.99! 
It’s made by Recollections and holds 16 cartridges, but I could only get it to hold 12 overlays and books – which is weird.  You might be able to smush some more in there but I didn’t want to risk it.  It also holds my tools and my color ink marker/pens.  The cartridges tend to fall out once you lift this up, so I did this to help hold them in place. 
Overall, I think it’s a pretty neat system for my on-the-go scrapping!  You can’t beat it for the price.
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Monday, October 17, 2011

Tips. Compare DSLR to Point-and-Shoot pics

Yesterday I told you how this point-and-shoot gal took the leap to get a DSLR.  I also showed some websites that have helped me in my journey to figure out what the heck I'm doing with this camera!  HA!  Below are four pictures of my fabulous Witchy - two with my point-and-shoot and two with my DSLR.  You tell me what you think. 

Point-and-shoot Witchy

DSLR Witchy.

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Sunday, October 16, 2011

Tips. Beginning beginner DSLR photographer

I think a photography class should be a requirement in all educational programs because it makes you see the world rather than just look at it. ~Author Unknown

I love taking pictures.  Anything and everything.  My husband is always saying "another picture?" - but I know he secretly loves it.  Although I've always been a point-and-shoot kind of gal, I decided to invest some money in a DSLR camera. 

My trusty point-and-shoot.

My new DSLR Nikon D5100.  Yikes!

Now please remember, I am C L U E L E S S when it comes to using anything but point-and-shoot so I am a beginning beginner at best.  Along the way, I have found some great websites that have helped me tremendously learn my way through this maze of DSLR's.  Hope they help you too!!

KevinandAmanda
Love this site...I aspire to take photos that amaze me like hers do {sigh}.  Is this not a FABULOUS photo??!!  She has a few great articles on photography that have been very helpful for the beginner - plus her site in general is pretty fab (in coming posts this will be listed as one of my fav sites)!

Digital Photography School
This was a great starting site - it has plenty of basics to learn about.  But be warned...there is a LOT of reading here.  Set aside blocks of time to be able to get through it all.

ourbestbites
Another fav website.  This article will help for food specific pictures, but I learned some general pointers about light here also.

Well that's a few to get you started.  Good luck!!
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Friday, October 7, 2011

Craft. Spider Craft.

"Two-legged creatures we are supposed to love as we love ourselves. The four-legged, also, can come to seem pretty important. But six legs are too many from the human standpoint." ~Joseph W. Krutch
So every year we have a Pumpkin Carving party - this year will be our 13th year!  So that would mean I was how old when we started?!  Ok...nevermind that...  So every year we try to come up with cute take-home treats for our fellow carvers.  I was surfing the other day and found this fabulous idea!!  So here it is - this years take-home treat!!  Too cute right?
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Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Craft. Owl craft.

So we took a trip to our local library a few weekends ago and they offered this cute craft to the kids.  All you need are five things that you may already have:
  1. empty toilet paper roll
  2. googly eyes
  3. brown markers
  4. brown construction paper
  5. glue stick
 My four year old just needed a little bit of help with the glue stick but he really enjoyed the finished owl.  He now sits proudly on top of our toaster oven :-)
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Monday, October 3, 2011

The beginning.

The beginning is the most important part of the work. ~Plato

So it's official.  I have started my first blog.  Who am I you ask?  Well, my name is Christie and I'm a working mother of two beautiful boys, one of which is special needs.  My beautiful 4 year old has a mood disorder, so on the outside he is just like the rest of us, but inside his brain all the wires somehow got a little messed up.  My 8 year old has the biggest heart I've seen in any adult or child. 


I am married to a great guy who always keeps me laughing - even when it seems there's nothing to laugh about.  We just celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary (woo hoo!!) and we've been together 20 years....yes, we waited just a wee bit before getting married.


Why did I start this blog?  Well being a crafter, beginner photographer, internet surfer, a working Mom, and a scrapbooker (among other things!) I would love to share some thoughts, helpful hints, ideas, etc. with all of you!  Sometimes I may just share a funny story or something new I discovered that maybe you will like too.


Now that you've stepped into 216 Grant, here's hoping that you'll stay and enjoy yourself.
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