I'm not freakin out.... I'm freakin in!

Can I just say I LOVE the movie Kung Fu Panda? Call me dorky, immature, or even down right weird. I don't care. I love Jack Black's style of comedy. What can I say? By the way... my title is from Kung Fu Panda 2 - thank you very much.

Anyhow, last Wednesday Don Juan was complaining of an ear ache, so we made a doctor's appointment for him (and myself since I had been sick for 2 weeks and counting. I was actually getting worse rather than better...). We saw the doctor on Friday and she said that Don Juan definitely had an ear infection, but since he wasn't running a fever, still eating, and still urinating, that she didn't want to give an antibiotic yet. Uh, could I have used more commas than that in the previous sentence? Whatever. Anyhow, she proceeded to tell me that she suspected that I may have whooping cough! Also, if I had it, my sons probably have it too (since we've all been dealing with the cough/cold issue for 2 weeks & counting). Fun. So she swabbed the back of my son's & my nose (which felt like she was swabbing my brain) to be sent off for testing. Mind you this was Friday.... Which means nothing will begin processing until Monday.. and I won't get the results until - oh - Thursday? To top all of this off... we have been stuck in the house already (from being sick), and now we are quarantined until we get these results?! My boys are going crazy being inside of the house! I've been distracting them with chores (laundry, dishes, and cleaning) and playing, but they can only take so much of being inside for so long... they're 4 & 5 years old for goodness sakes!

On another note, My husband and I have a wedding to go to in Portland, OR this weekend. Notice I said... my husband and I.... YES! NO KIDS!! Don't get me wrong... I love my chilllllren, but sometimes as a mother, you just need your time away from them. God knew what he was doing because I'll be beyond ready to leave by the time Friday morning hits - HA! In case you haven't guessed it, I won't be blogging any of those days that I'll be gone... so sorry! But I'll have a nice juicy tutorial when I get back, so stay tuned! I have been working on it all week. Yes I know it's only Tuesday... okay, so all weekend? Who cares. I've just been working on the dang thing okay!

Seeings that I have a wedding to go to, I was scouring pinterest for a simple homemade wedding gift for these people (whom my husband knows, I don't). I found a few cute ideas, and I've come up with this (as long as my hubby gets the goods on where these people met & where they live... we already know they're getting married in Portland - duh!):

I found the tutorial HERE

Now don't get all mad at me because I didn't find your tutorial on pinterest. I'm just going by what I found. It's easy enough to do, and fairly personal. I'm also going to add this from my previous post:

Except it won't have the button bobby pins, and of course, it will say something different lol! This time I'll paint the whole board. Nice and neat. I'm tossing up between the cliche saying: 

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 

or 

Colossians 3:13-14

Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

Unless I find something else to put on there. I haven't asked the hubby yet. Maybe he has something else in mind. Either way, I think wedding gift wise - we're good. I'll do my best to post the pic of the frame I make if that's the route we go. Hopefully traveling with this thing will prove to be easy. We are taking the train (which I've never ridden on before....). It sounds promising. We don't have to drive, and we can relax together the whole way. I'm so excited! I can't wait until this weekend!

Easy Laundry Basket

This was too easy for me not to post. During the garage sale season (my absolute FAVORITE time of the year might I add) I snagged a few burlap sacks, wood pant hangers, and a slew of other things. So when I was faced with the dilemma of clothes being thrown on the bathroom floor with no space for a laundry basket, I came up with this quick and easy fix!

All I did was lay newspaper on the inside of the bag (so that the letters didn't bleed through to the back), lay the letter stencil on the bag, and then I used a sharpie marker to fill in the letters. I just made this, so I haven't had a chance to wash it (after stenciling the letters on), so I'm not sure if the letters will bleed or not. I will do my best to update you if they do. 

After you stencil your letters on, clip the back of the bag with the pant hanger, slam a nail into the wall, hang your hanger on it, and call it good! Now you have a laundry bag that you don't trip over, AND it's easy enough for a guy to use!! I think I'm going to add this to my boys bathroom behind the door (it's a smaller bathroom) for them to drop their skivvies into before they take a bath. 

By the way, if something like this has been done before - please accept my apologies for not giving you credit. If you leave your link in the comments section I'll be happy to link you to this post. Thanks!

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Lazy woman's enchiladas

Call me lazy. I like to think of it as taking the shortest route to get where you want to go, but that's just me. My hubby (General M) is in love with Mexican food (and sports). So imagine my happiness when I found out how to make enchiladas an easy way. I used to cook the chicken & hand shred it (which by all means cost less, and may be healthier than this concoction... however how healthy is enchiladas anyway?). Now I just buy the canned chicken from Costco. I'm sure you can get canned chicken at your local grocery store, but please note that it may be smaller that this can that I am using. Check your ounces on the can! Here's whatcha need:

13 x 9 glass casserole dish

12.5 oz of canned chicken (or get that roasted chicken from the deli @ your grocery store and shred it)

1 package of enchilada sauce (which called for the can of tomato paste I didn't picture - of course)

Corn tortillias

Shredded Cheese

NOTE: The enchilada sauce I purchased called for 1 can of tomato paste, but I've seen other enchilada sauce call for 1 can of tomato sauce. Please check your packages for proper preparation. I usually shred cheese from the ginormous block of cheese we have in the fridge, but it's the end of the month, we are out of cheese, and I'm waiting until pay day to even step foot in the abyss of Costco for my monthly trip there. 

 So you need to drain the chicken, put it into a bowl and shred it with a fork:

Make your enchilada sauce (according to the directions on the package), then put a thin layer on the bottom of your casserole dish:

Put your shredded cheese in a bowl and line up your items like so (the enchilada sauce is on the stove to the right, and that teal thing is a plastic flexible cutting board.. I just needed a surface to contain the mess):

Take a tortilla and dip it into the enchilada sauce:

Lay your tortilla down:

Add chicken (don't stuff it too much, or you'll run out of chicken early - and you still need to add the cheese):

Add cheese

And roll:

Place your enchilada seam side down so the top is smooth, and so that your enchilada doesn't come undone:

Dip, stuff, and repeat until your platter is full. There were 2 more enchiladas that I did full of cheese at the top, but they didn't make it into the picture:

Pour the reaming sauce over the top of your enchiladas: 

Add cheese to the top:

Throw into the oven at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or so... at least until the cheese is melted & the insides are hot. In the meantime, chop your onions, throw a pot of corn on the stove, and make your salad with dressing, and VOLIA! You've got dinner:

Can I just say that even though this is lazy woman's enchiladas.... taking these pictures, downloading them onto my computer, and adding them into my blog was me NOT being lazy! So this batch of enchiladas I made were technically NOT lazy woman's enchiladas... I'm just sayin :)

Do you really want to make it even more easier? After you do your layer of sauce on the bottom, add a layer of torillias to the bottom, add a layer of chicken. add a layer of cheese, then a repeat. Pour the sauce over the top, and call it enchilada lasagna! BOO YAH!

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Sporting the mohawk with long hair

Whoo hoo! I think I found my new favorite hairstyle :) I love styling my hair in different ways as much as I can. Usually I'll do my hair and makeup in the morning instead of cleaning up last night's mess in the kitchen. Call us slobs - whatever - my excuse? Hubby sleep eats. Yep, gets up in the middle of the night and eats in his "sleep". As you can guess, he's a guy (of course), and if you live with a guy you know that most of them are messy people. I'm not baggin on them... t's just in their nature.

SO! Anyhow - back to the subject - I never was the one getting ready before school (when I was in high school). I usually slept in until I absolutely had to get up, throw on some clothes, bush my hair, brush my teeth, and head out of the door. Besides... it was only high school. I seriously didn't wear my hair any other way other than down, or in a pony tail until I was in my early 20's. That goes for makeup too... I met a gal who I used to work with & she threw me into the fashion world. Plucking my eyebrows, putting on makeup, adding hairstyles, & clothes that were other colors besides black, white and gray invaded my life like a hornet's nest! I mean, she seriously taught me how to take care of myself as a girl. After having my first and second child, I went back to the no makeup, no cute hair (although I did add the well known pony tail that you pull half way through your rubber band letting the ends of your hair fan out like a peacock!), and sweatpants/pajamas regularly. So hot right? No... After realizing my lack of presentation, I've since come back to taking care of myself. Point is, I wasn't always a stylish girl with cute hair, cute clothes, or cute makeup... I was just lazy & blah... But you don't have to be! Doing your hair and makeup do make you feel confident, important, and just somewhat put together. Even if you are the furthest from it!

On a side note (yep we're taking a tangent trip... you should know that I take a lot of these - HA!), when you have kids.... please, please, please remember to take care of yourself!! Men are visual people, and when they arrive home.... well, lets just say that a woman in sweatpants and messy hair is only cute during the time that you're dating - and only acceptable when you're on your period lol! It's very easy to get lost in the whirlwind of caring for kids (stay at home momma's I'm talkin to you!), and I remember feeling like if I took any time out to care for myself (eating first before feeding the baby, taking a shower, getting dressed for the day, doing my makeup.... etc.) I would feel utterly selfish & that if I was not constantly taking care of my kids, that would render me a terrible mother. NOT TRUE!! If you don't take care of yourself (even eating right counts), you can't take care of your kids! If you don't feel good about yourself, it's easy to get depressed! Depression = not feeling like you want to get out of bed... thus... you don't feel like taking care of your kids. You still may get up and do what you need to do as a mother, but depression ROBS YOU OF THAT JOY! Okay. I'll step off the soap box now :)

Uh, this is ending up to be a longer post than I expected... sorry. I'll just show you the picture of what my hair looked like after all is said and done (it's what you're lookin for anyway right?):

So the first picture has a nice clean mirror in our bathroom (that way you didn't think we were completely gross... dirty microwave, messy kitchen in the morning... add a dirty mirror or two, and you might just be getting some thoughts in your head that we may be slobs or something...). However, the second picture was taken in my boy's bathroom because it has new light bulbs and just overall better lighting. Which also shows the toothpaste splatter paint that is reflecting in the second picture. Or maybe you wouldn't even notice that until I've said something. In that case, just don't look too close at the second picture :)

Yay for the mohawk! If you want to learn how to do this seriously awesome hairstyle, you can find it HERE. This hairstyle is totally fun, spunky, and in your face. Just the way I like it. 

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Ridiculously easy microwave cleaning

Can I share a secret? I used to absolutely hate cleaning my microwave. It ran up there with the 'I hate cleaning the top of our refrigerator, I hate dusting, I hate cleaning in that little crevasse between the washer and dryer.....' Well you get the idea....

Anyhow, this tip has saved me (and my flappy triceps) some serious scrubbing. Now all I have to do is wipe in order to get my microwave clean :) The only problem is that since it's so easy to do, the ACTUAL chore still rarely gets done because it's lack of difficulty... Isn't it ironic? Whatever.

So I began with a sauce splattered microwave:

(Don't judge me)

Added a big glass bowl of water and microwave the water for about 10 minutes (or longer if you've put off cleaning it for a long time - Ha!)

Pull out your bowl (being careful NOT to spill the hot water on YOU, OR the CHILDREN that think it's funny to dart in front of you when you're carrying a hot bowl of death)

I did not take a picture of the next step because if you don't know hot to do this without a picture, then.... I'm not sure you're cut out for this cleaning thing... Anyhow! Wipe the inside of your microwave with a cloth. If you still have those stubborn stains, or particles of splattered food that just insist on clinging to the walls of your microwave,  or if you're just plain lazy like me... you can repeat the 'microwave your bowl of water' step instead of scrubbing.

Step back and go "AAAAAAHHHH! AREN'T YOU PRETTY?!"

Then, think about how easy that was, and do what I do.... make it one of the last things on your list to clean lol! Anytime I'm feeling I haven't done much house work, I do this, and get a big "Wow honey! The microwave looks awesome!" Maybe that's the trick to cleaning... don't clean it until you (or someone else) can't stand it. Then when you do clean it, you'll get major recognition for being a good house wife! That's not what I do on purpose.... it just sometimes happens that way.... ONLY to my microwave might I add! :)

Uh... Where Do I Start?!

Happy Valentine's Day

(or Happy Singles Awareness Day)

Whatever floats your boat... I wish I could post what I did for my boys valentine's, but I need to figure out how to blur our their faces. I'm just not ready to exploit them on the internet yet lol!

Okay... So here's a sneak peek at a few things I WANT to post a tutorial on (or just brag about). Some of these I'm sure you can figure out yourself - however, if you can not & would like to see a tutorial on it THEN ASK! Yep, I'm going to make you comment on this blog darn it! :)

Jewelry Holder

made from an empty picture frame, canvas bag, and hemp string

Bracelet Holder

from old soda bottles

Diaper and Diaper Wipe Clutch

The diaper wipes are accessible from both sides 

when the clutch is closed... HOW COOL IS THAT?!)

Going from a dirrrrrrrrrty microwave

(Mmm Hmm! Don't act like you've never had a dirty microwave!)

To a ridiculously clean microwave in 10 minutes WITHOUT SCRUBBING!!!

Find out how to do this: here

GORGEOUS FLOWERS!

Results from rag rolls overnight pulled back into a classy updo:

Sun-dried tomatoes - YUM!

Making a Caesar costume (Christmas Play) out of a pillow case and felt

Putting those annoying credit card offers to use

and make a wallet key holder

I also made some wallets out of a Rice Krispies box, but never to a final picture (go figure!), as well as 5 Minute Artesian Bread.... ooooh I can smell it now... 

Where are the stories you ask? When I get over my ever-so-fun sickness, I'll be more inclined to follow up with that too. I have way too much I want to say on here, but my skinny fingers can't keep up with my mind :) I need one of those programs where I can just talk & it will type out stuff for me (which would also eliminate spelling errors lol!). I'm just afraid if I had one of those programs I would get carried away talking, get off track, and forget where I began. Or I would end up rambling on about how my mom & I found the coolest place to treasure dig while she was visiting, how we found a Wii balance board & game on Craigslist for $25, how we spent 8 hours in JCPenny's on black friday and I managed to walk out with only 2 pillows that cost a total of $0.25 each (THAT was hard!!).... or how my husband (General M) ended up getting the tip of his middle finger cut off while running around the house with my boys when I was getting ready to leave the house! Or when we lost power because of an insane snow storm that got so cold the following night that ice froze on the tree branches which was causing them to fall (creating a lot of damage & a huge mess - thankfully not around our house)! Yah... I could get carried away talking about all that... just not today :) I'm out for now!

I'm baaaaaaaack!!!

Thought you got rid of me eh? Oh have I got stuff and stories for you! But you're just gonna hafta wait until tomorrow (or maybe the day after that) for any of it. I just though you should know that I haven't died or anything :)

Postings of crafts, and stories galore.... Comin' up!