Recent Loves!

I have quite the Pinterest addiction.  I went through a bit of a a massive withdrawal during the first 9 weeks of the school year.

I barely had time to talk to Handsome Husband, let alone spend time on the computer or at the gym.  As the year has gotten easier, I have been able to find some more mindless time to spend on Pinterest.

Here is what I have been crushing on lately...

I L.O.V.E. these rainbow shelves!!!  Who wouldn't LOVE these amazingly beautiful bookshelves!

200 ways to say "went"

Isn't this an A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. chart to have for the word went??  How cool is this????  I love teaching my second graders new words and this gives them a great resource for finding alternative words.

I have always loved kids and have been thinking about things I want to do with my own kids when Handsome Husband and I decide to procreate and fill the earth with our offspring.  Here is an idea that I have been LOVING lately:

How cool is this???

Handsome Husband and I have always been "those people" who usually give books as gifts.  (I say usually because sometimes it's wwwwwaaaayyyyyyy more fun to play with all the toys and decide which one you want to play with when you visit...true story.)

What have you been pinning???

Laters!

Mrs. B

Stupid Phone!

So, I plugged my phone in to sync my photos in order to upload them and...malfunctions.  Gross, dude.

So, no post for tonight and probably not for tomorrow night since it's my second night of parent/teacher conferences.

Have a great couple of days!!

Laters!

Mrs. B

High Five For Friday!

Hooray!!

Friday is here and I am excited!

1)  The first night of parent/teacher conferences began last night and I talked from 8 am to 8 pm yesterday.  I hit "the wall" around one today...my poor kiddos. 

 I end up forgetting their names when that happens.  

It ends up sounding like, "Who can tell me such and such?  Ok...uh...you, whatever your name iiiiissssss...oh!  Right!  Johnny."  Brain farts galore.

2)  I got to hang out with this beautiful little girl tonight...

Jaders...Even Handsome Husband was loving on her.

3)  I got my Scentsy order Thursday.  Handsome Husband couldn't figure out why we needed 3 more for the house.  I love the ambiance they give, but I admit that we are done buying the actual warmers...the bricks...well...

4)  Rocking out on the way home from work...This one's for you Erin!

  

5)  Watching Rock of Ages with Handsome Husband.  My favorite character is the monkey.

"That's right, Hey Man.  Rock will never die!"

Picture from Wikipedia

I hope you all had a great week, too!

Laters,

Mrs. B

Anticipation and Funnies

So, I have this wonderful, amazing, stupendous, tremendous friend.  Her name is Lindsay.

She has been with her love for a while (7, almost 8 years!) and they got engaged last year!

WAHOO!!

(There was plenty of shrieking on my end:)  I felt it was only appropriate!)

I loved looking at her Pinterest finds and liking them and commenting on them.  If only I had been aware of Pinterest when I got married...oh, hindsight, you booger you.

Anyway...

I got this gem of a card in June...

(I'm the one on the right :))

...and this was the message inside.

I was pretty psyched!  Some people may say that they hate being in other people's weddings, but I happen to love it!  I've only been in a couple others, but I find it amazing to be a part of someone's support system on their special day.

Welp, I got this fancy schmancy card in the mail today...

I'm so excited!!!

And the card is so pretty :) 

SOOOO Lindsay!

I can't wait!

As for the funnies...

There has been an...eruption of sorts on our playground...

The liner under the dirt is popping through.

Well, that stopped one little girl in her tracks.  (Background:  She's VERY literal and likes things to be cut and dry.)

One of the teachers on the second grade team encouraged her to walk around it instead of letting it stop her.

So she walked around...

and around...

and around!

She walked around the plastic eruption until the same teacher told her that she meant for her to walk around it once to get where she was going.

The student was such a good sport.  She smiled and moved on.

I got a little giggle out of that.

Tomorrow is parent/teacher conferences, so I will most likely be MIA.  Have a great day!

Laters, 

Mrs. B

DIY Pearl Wreath

Last week was my Fall Break for school.  It was a new experience to have a whole week off instead of a couple of days.  Handsome Husband and I went away for the weekend and I made it (barely) one day without having a project.

As I stated in this post I broke my painting promise to myself.  I also spent some time on Pinterest...oh, Pinterest, you saucy minx!  You sucked me in!

I have seen this picture floating around on Pinterest and thought, I can totally do this.

It came with basic instructions: foam wreath, wrap ribbon around it, glue pearls to it, hang, voila!  That didn't seem so difficult, so the craft commenced.

Here's what I THOUGHT I needed...

 What I ACTUALLY needed was:

4 rolls of 1 1/2" wired white ribbon

**A bajillion strands of white craft pearls from Michaels ranging from small to large to give it some depth

A hot glue gun and glue sticks (I used around 25 or so!)

A styrofoam wreath

(All supplies USED are from Michaels)

**(I wiped out the store near me and had to go to Hobby Lobby to make sure that I had enough...Hobby Lobby was wwwwaaaaayyyyyy more expensive and I'm happy to say that I didn't have to touch any of the strands from there so I can return them all)  DEFINITELY go to Michaels.  Better prices and you need a bunch!  I completely underestimated how many pearls I would need and it turned out to be a lot more that what I thought.  

1.  Wrap the ribbon around the wreath securing every-so-often with glue.

2.  Once you have wrapped the ribbon around the wreath start gluing the pearls on.  I started with some of the big ones and then filled in around them.

More gluing.

More gluing...as you can see, I thought I would only need one roll of ribbon (face palm!) but I couldn't wait until the next day to begin gluing the pearls on!  

  

More gluing.

3.  Wrap any extra ribbon around the wreath a few times to make it hang-able.  I wrapped mine a few times and secured with glue.  I think it would look great with some silver ribbon, too!

In our doorway.

Closeup!

I loved this project because it was pretty mindless (although, make sure that you have a good grip on the pearls because if they get away from you they burn, little buggers!  I have the blisters to prove it!) and allowed me to get caught up on my shows and watch some movies while on break.

Handsome Husband actually noticed it!

I hope to make some more wreaths this season...I'll post them as soon as they're done!

Did you do any crafting this weekend??

Laters!

Mrs. B

High Five For (A Relaxing!) Friday!

I love Fridays, even when I'm on break.  Here are some of my favorite things of the week:

1)  I was getting crafty up in here this week.  Love it! Wait until my post about the green circle thingamabob (top-left photo).  The right photo is pretty self-explanatory...new fridge magnets :)

 2)  Our renters had some fun with our magnetic poetry last weekend.  I thought it was pretty funny but didn't even notice until Thursday morning!

3)  I love this dude...I'm thinking I should change his name in my phone to Handsome Husband since that's what I usually call him in print :) 

Don't mind my twisted sense of humor (I did not hit you...I simply high-fived your face.)

4)  I love when Handsome Husband sorts his clothes for me (when I do him the favor of actually washing his clothes!)  Loooooonnnnnggggg story as to why it isn't a regular thing. 

5)  Handsome Husband and I hit up a Notre Dame hockey game tonight (hence the reason this post is a bit late).  Can you tell that I was the one taking the picture since I'm not even looking at the lens!  Ugh...oh well!

Have you checked out Lauren's H54F post over at From My Grey Desk Blog?

Laters!

Mrs. B

I Love Staying At Home (For Maybe 2 Days)

Then I get bored and projects take over my life...

Darn you Pinterest.

I broke my number one, cardinal, ultimate promise to myself...

I painted something.

I know! I know!  I should have just left well enough alone.  But I couldn't stand walking past my front door and seeing how scratched up and dirty it was.  It was installed almost 2 years ago (thanks mom and dad!).  I painted it a great red on the outside, but didn't touch the inside.

Much better...although I thought I was going to kill my "roller".  A paint roller is supposed to actually roll right??  Mine just kind of spread the paint around on the surface of the door.

Sooooooo, instead of being an easy, couple hours long project it has turned into a two-day project that will require a run to Lowe's to pick up an actual, working roller.  Groan.

On the other hand, yesterday was a relaxing day that also happened to be productive!  I went to the Farmer's Market and found these great cabbage flowers for the front steps.

 I think they really help fill out the front porch.  The pumpkins looked great, but they needed something else.  My ideal decoration would be a couple of bales of hay...I love that look for fall, but I haven't been able to get my hands on any, so, I guess I will have to save it for next year!

I also tried my hand at baking my first pie of the year...Pumpkin!  I have made chocolate chip pie a couple of times, but this one was soooo much better.  The only reason I made one this week is because I truly just wanted to make whipped cream!  I used the Libby's Famous Pumpkin Pie recipe.  It was wayyy easy.

Just placed in the oven...

After cooling for the recommended two hours.  Don't mind the sliver missing.  I had to try it!

I LOVE TO MAKE HOMEMADE WHIPPED CREAM!
  I started making my own last year.  It is super easy in my KitchenAid mixer.  I forgot to freeze the bowl ahead of time so it didn't set up as well as normal, but it was still fantastic!  (Plus I'm always afraid to over-whip it because it will turn to butter...not the best pie topper!)  Just some heavy cream, powdered sugar and vanilla whipped on high until it thickens.  I also like to make cinnamon whipped cream and chocolate whipped cream. :)

I have an addiction.

This dork Handsome Husband loves pie and whipped cream, too!  It was his after-parent-teacher-conferences treat.

Wait until you see what I'm coming up with tomorrow!  Again, darn you Pinterest!

Laters!

Mrs. B

Is it just me or is this post a bit hodge podge??  Apparently I'm a tad bit ADD today.  Bear with me :)

Faux Headboard

So, I have been slowly making the house that Handsome Husband bought just out of college a little more home-y since moving in last year.

Oh, heck...who am I kidding??  

I've been working on this thing since the moment we started dating. :)

I love that man to death, but he has NO VISION.  

His idea of decorating is framed posters (think Caddyshack, Rudy, Notre Dame posters, etc.), baseball bats, and a lamp made from a football helmet.  Seriously.

I have painted the living room, dining room (twice!), kitchen (everything but the countertops), downstairs bathroom, downstairs guest room, sunporch, master bedroom, upstairs guest room, and upstairs bathroom (twice!).

I frustrate the stink out of him whenever I come home with something new from TJ Maxx, Marshalls, Salvation Army, Goodwill, Target, etc.  

Hey, a visionary's job is never done.  It's ever evolving and improving.

So, after mom and I painted the master bedroom and ripped up the ugly disgusting dirty old gray carpet I got working.  I bought some pretty lamps from TJ Maxx, put up some curtains and then realized that the wall over the bed was huge and blank and boring.

My pretty TJ Maxx lamp(s) :)

See, it's boring, right??!!  (This picture was taken before mom helped me put the curtains up...gotta love a handy momma!)

So, I had the brilliant idea to get some picture frames and put those up above the bed to fake a headboard and fill some space.

I bought 3 frames from Target matted to fit an 8x10 photo.  I think it is a 16x20 frame.

What you'll need: scrapbooking paper in your choice of color, scrapbooking vinyl overlay (both bought at Michael's) and a frame.

I took out the frame's guts and replaced them with the overlay.  I was concerned at first because I couldn't get the sticker completely off the first one I did, but realized it didn't matter since it was so much bigger than the cutout. 

Then, I put the paper in behind the overlay. 

Ta-da!  (Sorry for the fuzzy photo.)

Here is the finished product!  I chose three different shades of the same color to give the "headboard" some depth.

Here they are the very second I got done...notice the hammer in the middle of the bed.

Here is the finished product with a freshly made bed.  I have been meaning to take a picture of these stinking things for about 3 weeks, but haven't had the bed in the right state to get a great picture!  The only reason I did this time is because we rented our house out and I had to make the bed up pretty for the renters.

I actually meant to have a bit more space between the frames so that they spanned the width of the bed a bit better, but I was scrambling to get these up before we rented our house the first time and didn't feel like doing it again.

One thing that I LOVE about having frames over my bed is that they are wicked easy to change out.  All I have to do is pick out new paper and voila!  A new look!  

Handsome Husband loves them because they are in a shade of blue (his fave) when I usually pick green things (my fave).

Pretty, if I may say so myself.  AND the frames are easy to repurpose if I ever get a "real" headboard. 

Laters!!

Mrs. B