Latest ebay obsession

I go through ebay phases- I can go months without looking at it, and then I'll think of something I need and spend (too much) time looking at it, maybe making a few purchases... Lately I can't get enough of the vintage wallpaper and contact paper! I want to cover a desktop in Miss B's room but most of the good stuff is too expensive. I think this is so cute for a baby girl:

and I know I would never need this but how awesome would these metallic pink flamingos look somewhere!
And I love these contact cut-outs- I got some of these that I plan to put on some buckets or bins for Charlie's room, or maybe the playroom or something.

Food Storage Friday #4

Besides storing food and water, there are a few other necessities you should stock up on- think about toilet paper, soap, shampoo, diapers, deoderant, contact solution etc. and don't forget to keep some cash on hand- find a place that you will remember, but not think about much so you don't sneak from it. Consider something like these diversion safes-(or make your own) If you're getting a tax refund this year, think about setting aside some of that to help fill your 3 or 12 month supply. Costco has this great emergency food bucket: I think it's only $70 in the store and has 40 meals that serve 5 people. You just need to have water and a heat source. Also, I found a great food storage blog if once a week (or less) just isn't enough for you! http://safelygatheredin.blogspot.com/

Food Storage Friday #3

So sorry to be posting this a week late, and on Saturday but sometimes that's how it goes... Ok, so you've gotten your 2 weeks supply of water, and you're working on getting that 3 month supply of food your family likes to eat. (right?) You will need lots of purchased canned and dried foods in your supply, but remember the option you have to can or bottle your own food! I have learned to do peaches, apples, chicken, roast and ground beef and it's really not hard. This week I am going to do my mom's spagetti sauce recipe. When you bottle your own meat, it tases better than regular store bought canned stuff, and it lasts for up to 10 years! I was intimidated at first but it's really very easy. I found this great website, Fresh Preserving.com with recipes and instructions for canning, freezing and drying all kinds of food, and on the right hand side of this page (click) they have a link list to other canning related websites. Most fruits (high acid foods) just need a boiling water canner, such as this one: and meats, vegetables and soups (low acid foods) will need a pressure canner, like this one:The pressure canner is an investment, but ask around and you may be able to find one you can borrow. So that's something to think about, something fun to try right? Let me know how it goes if you do it! I can e-mail you the spagetti sauce recipe and step by step meat canning instructions (thanks to my super provident mom!) so if you want them, let me know! Next Friday: Beyond Food

6th Picture Tag

I was excited to get to do this tag, it sounded fun. You go to your sixth folder (in my pictures) and post your 6th picture. I wondered if I would cheat if it was a lame one but I like this one so phew! It's Miss B (the clothed one) and her cousin playing the piano at Mimi and Papa's ranch. She's probably about as old as Charlie is now- doesn't she look a lot like him? I don't know why I have pictures from 2002 on here still, they are backed up elsewhere but I don't want to delete them. I feel like everyone has done this one except me, but I'm going to tag 6 of you anyways, if you already did it, forgive me, I forgot. Becky B, Suzi, Diana, Ann, Amy C. and Katy M. Thanks Melanie for tagging me! I haven't looked at this picture in ages!

Kiss it better

This is what every mom needs in their purse! If you've never heard of Fred Flare, you've got to go check it out HERE, for all the things you never knew you always wanted... Here's some of my other favorite items:

Do you like fabric? Pretty patterns?

I discovered Anna Maria Horner recently and stuck a little link over there to her blog but I just wanted to point it out in case you aren't constantly checking my links! She is amazing and has some beautiful fabrics coming out- including some fantastic oil cloth which I am suddenly dying for. I haven't sewed anything in ages but visiting her blog has my mind seriously considering it. Doesn't that picture make you want to sew something?

v-day

We spent the day yesterday with the kids in the snow so there wasn't really any valentine's celebrating but it was a good day nonetheless. I saw some cute love related prints on Butterflies blog from Studio Mela and I really liked this one.

New Do

I tried to style it for church Sunday- I've since learned hairspray is the way to go, not gel. I think he likes it though.

Neat project

Somehow I came across illustrator/designer Claire Mojher's blog and I really liked these bird plaques- they are pretty, and don't look too difficult to try sometime.

What are you feeding this kid?

I hear that a lot for some reason! The answer is baby food and formula of course but we're easing our way into real food- he found this chicken nugget and apple on the floor (it was right after dinner, I promise!) and was SO happy I couldn't bring myself to take them away. I just got my camera.ps- he got his first hair cut today! (snif snif....) but if you can believe it he's even cuter now! I didn't have my camera today but there will be pictures tomorrow!

Super Cute Valentines

I've been spending WAY too much time searching craft blogs but I love it! It makes my head spin when I see all the creative beauty out there! I'm loving all the valentine stuff I'm coming across, here are some things put on my mental "to do someday" list.

First, this adorable valentine box and wrappers for Hershey's nuggets:

from the blog design, wash, rinse, repeat, then these darling paper fortune cookies from her as well. Click on the pictures to go to her free downloads and instructions. I saw some made with felt somewhere too. Next, this really cute way to make regular paper clips into heart paper clips from How About Orange:

I love how simple and cute these stitched cards from The Purl Bee are, also the little stuffed felt hearts!

Food Storage Friday #2

How's the water collecting going? Hopefully you've gotten started on that. The next step I want to talk about is getting your 3 months supply of food. Don't be intimidated, this is really easy to do by just buying extra of the non-perishable items you already buy every time you shop. You want to build up a surplus of the food you already eat, that you could live entirely off of for 3 months if necessary. The easiest way is to choose 7 meals, times 12 weeks. Write out the ingredients you need for those 7 meals and start stocking up. Get 12 boxes of pasta and 12 jars of pasta sauce. Get 24 cans of chili and 12 boxes of cornbread mix. Canned soup, rice & beans, tuna, mac & cheese, top ramen, refried beans, peanut butter and honey are all good lunch options. For breakfast I have oatmeal, boxed cereal, and big bags of Krusteaz pancake mix- you just have to add water. I have some dry powder milk, but the thought of drinking it makes me gag so I bought a couple boxes of vanilla soy milk from Costco- they store for about 9 months and don't need to be refrigerated until they are opened.

I don't count the food in my freezer as food storage because in case of an emergency that you would have to rely on your food storage, there might not be consistent electricity.

Your 3 month supply is easy to rotate because most canned or boxed goods are fine stored for a year as is and if you use 1-2 of these meals a week and replenish your supply, you'll keep stocked and rotated.

Food Storage is easy! Let me know if you have any questions, I'll be happy to answer them! Next week- canning meat! It's not hard- wouldn't it be great to have some chicken or beef in your food storage? When you bottle it, it tastes better than the canned stuff you buy, and it stays good for TEN YEARS!

Fashion Friday? noooooooooo

I'm totally not qualified to talk about fasion, but I need some advise from those of you who are- Can these kind of shirts be worn tucked in? I have a similar one I love but I look obese in it untucked over jeans. So can I tuck, or should this shirt go in the DI pile- I can handle the truth. And PS- if you do like fashion (or just need some input) Cardigan Empire is a really fun blog to read. I especially like it because reading her lovely description of apple shaped figures made me almost ok with mine.