Controlling My Chaos

Birthmarks

2009-11-07T22:10:00.013-07:00

Let's talk about birthmarks, shall we? Well, birthday bookmarks, that is. It seems that a few of you thought it might be a good idea for me to make some holiday bookmarks, and I love that idea, I really do, and I'm going to get right on that, but I don't want anyone slinging any blog snot at me for putting my Christmas pretties up before Thanksgiving, so I'm going to hold off a bit.

In the meantime, I thought these little guys might hold you over for a bit.

I'm totally giving these to my sixth graders for their birthdays. It's a perfect teacher gift, don't you think? I think it would be a nifty party favor too. Or a great gift with a Barnes & Noble gift card. Or a fun little somethin' somethin' to stick inside a birthday card. Oh heck, just make some for yourself and celebrate your birthday all year long.

You can't have a birthday without cake, right?

I tweaked the one on the left a wee little bit, so if you're wondering why it looks different down below, it's because these are my prototypes and I thought the one was a little blah.

Oh dear, how did these get in here? You weren't supposed to see these.

Close your eyes and don't hate, okay?

Remember how I made my last batch of bookmarks with freebie magnets from the phone book? Yeah, well . . . I ran out so I had to go and buy some magnets.

And just between you and me, I'll never go back. These are worth the ten cents per bookmark because they have the adhesive already on them and they are STR-O-O-O-NG.

Notice that it's a box of 50 magnets. And each magnet is good for three bookmarks.

And, oopsie, I used all of those (yes that means 150 bookmarks, but really, who's counting?), and I had to go out and buy the gigondo box of magnets so I could bring you some more magnet love.

Can you believe it? I'm a little magnet happy lately. You could say that the kids in my life aren't lacking for bookmarks and you wouldn't be wrong.

As I was saying, I looooooove the self-adhesivity of these babies.

Remember I said that I can get three bookmarks per magnet? This is how I cut them up. I cut them in half, then each of those halves into thirds. I'm reeeeeeeee-al good at fractions. A fact that my sixth graders do not appreciate one little bit. They sort of hate fractions.

Then I cut a little extra off the edge of one of the pieces for each magnet. I do this because the little suckers won't line up perfectly for some dang reason. They go all magnet-mind-of-their-own on me and repel each other when I try to stack them perfectly lined up.

So I had to smother my symmetry issues and deal by making one of them shorter. It still bugs me.

Here's the longer of the two magnets.

And here's the shorter one on top and ready to be stuck to the opposite side of the bookmark.

Smackdown! And there you have it, another magnet bookmark. Bet you needed one too.

Here are the jpgs for you. In case you didn't see the last batch, print these as 4x6 photo prints, cut them in half lengthwise so they are 2" x 6", then fold over for a magnet bookmark.

Also, don't forget to click on each image before saving them to your computer so you get the best resolution.

Happy Birthday!

Pretend, okay?

Portuguese Sweet Rolls

2009-11-01T00:01:00.000-06:00

Are these gorgeous or what? They're Portuguese Sweet Rolls and Peanut Head made them. Really. He is a man of many talents. I looooooooove them. I've been known to beg him to make them for me. Sure, I could make them myself, but why would I when I'm living with The Bread Man?

When we got married I was the bread maker. Then the Barefoot Contessa bought Peanut Head a bread machine and my skills were kicked to the curb. Everyone started buying him bread machine cookbooks, he had so much fun baking, baking, baking. And then he started experimenting, because that's the kind of guy he is, and he can never leave well enough alone. He's like the Enterprise, exploring strange new worlds, yada, yada, yada.

That's neither here nor there though, you want to know how to make these rolls, right? Well, the recipe is posted at the end if you just want to skip the blah, blah and get right to it. Otherwise, Peanut Head is going to demonstrate how he gets his buns so cute. I mean his rolls.

Oh never mind, watch this.

Peanut Head starts with his dough that has just come out of the bread machine.

Then he starts with a piece of dough equal to approximately a third of a cup, give or take. The size is not super important because you can have little bitty buns, or gigondo buns, like me. You pick.

Then you need to roll that bit of dough into a little snake. Remember doing that with play dough? Same thing.

Stretch it out a wee little bit so you have enough length to tie it into a knot.

See how he holds his fingers as he's stretching his dough around them?

Almost there.

Ta da! It's certainly not rocket science, but it is bread science.

This is what they look like fresh out of the oven. They're almost worth the gigondo butt, aren't they? Who am I kidding? They are.

Here's that recipe card. Enjoy!

Halloween Ain't What it Used to Be

2009-10-30T23:01:00.005-06:00

In case you can't tell from the excellent disguise, Zoe Bug is going as a Gunslinger for Halloween this year.

Big surprise.

And no, it was not my idea.

I used to pick out the Halloween costumes for my kids, but Peanut Head shut me down a couple years ago. I'm still pretty bitter about it too.

Back when all was right in my world and I had control over every stitch of clothing that my girls wore, they would beg me to be crazy things like Hannah Montana and I would be all "NO!"

It's not that I don't want my girls to have a say in what they get to be for Halloween, it's more that I'm only okay with it if their idea of a cool costume lines up with my idea for a cool costume. Oh whatever, who am I kidding? I want control of everything.

I really am capable of compromise. Really. I just like my kids to look cute in their costumes. I try to accommodate their wishes too. Stinkerbell has been asking to be a lobster for at least three years now, since she was three, and I would be okay with that, except who sells lobster costumes? I'm not that girl who can whip up her own costume after designing and creating the pattern, so if it's not in the store, it's not going on the girl. Hence no lobster. Yet. Maybe by the time she's 25 we'll find that special costume. Won't that be cute?

Finding a costume to satisfy Stinkerbell is a traumatic event for me. We went to look for costumes at Target, and in the costume aisle, I am not kidding you, she would only pick up ugly, creepy, scary costumes. Not cute. At all. It was so sad. And I don't mind telling you that I was so desperate that I was begging her to pick the vampire costume because at least I had the smallest shred of hope that I could find a way to cutify it. I could get out the make-up kit and accessorize a costume like that.

The swamp monster though? I've got nothin' that can make this cute.

Am I right? I just want to schedule her a pedicure and some sedation dentistry. Girlfriend needs some heeeeeeeelp.

I keep asking myself, "Why do I have girls if they're going to dress like this?" I'm no fashion diva or anything like that, but come on.

Does anyone feel my pain here?

Well shoot, there's always next year.

Monsters in My House

2009-10-22T00:01:00.000-06:00

I got this spooky treat idea from Kara's Kitchen Creations. She has lots o' spooky recipes on her blog right now. I should mention than I cheated though, because I made brownies from a box instead of Kara's cookie bar recipe. I was impatient and I wanted a canvas for my Frankenhead chop, chop! I even used canned frosting. I feel so dirty.

Nah, not really. I always make brownies from the box. They're best that way.

The best part about these Frankenheads, is that they were simple and fast to make. I cut the brownies into squares and then I frosted them with green frosting. How fun would it be to drop a little mint flavoring in the frosting?

You're supposed to use miniature marshmallows, cut in half, for the whites of the eyes. I really think they would be cuter that way, but I was too lazy to go looking for marshmallows so I just used more frosting. As a result, my Frankenheads look a little hopped up on drugs of some sort, don't you think? Or maybe it's just a sugar high. The eyes look pretty dang crazy.

The hair, mouth and pupils are just chocolate frosting, piped on haphazardly. You could totally whip up a batch of these for a Halloween party and still have time to do your nails. Are you game?

Harvest Punch

2009-10-20T00:01:00.002-06:00

This is my all-time favorite drink to make for guests, and I was recently surprised to find that I had never posted it before. I aim to fix that today. Please, please, please try this. It is so yummy, you won't even believe it.

This is all you need: water, Sprite (or any lemon-lime soda), 1 can of frozen orange juice, 1 can of frozen lemonade, vanilla, almond extract (the secret ingredient), and sugar (the magical ingredient).

Surely you must be thirsty now?

Breakfast Recipe Card Divider

2009-10-19T21:13:00.006-06:00

Some anonymous person posted a comment on my blog recently, requesting that I make a recipe card divider for their Breakfast recipes. Well, I don't want to put you on the spot or anything, Anonymous, since you appear to be shy and all, but I sure hope this makes you happy.

Smooches!

Halloween Treats--CHEEEEEEEEAAP!

2009-10-14T20:45:00.005-06:00

So the girls and I got their treat bags put together for their school Halloween parties. The parties which I will not be able to attend this year since I'll be working. Sniff, sniff.

Anyway, I made these little tags for their treat bags, but I really wanted to post something that might help you make your Halloween a little more special. Last year I posted these treat toppers, that you can still use if you want.

But, I've been racking my brain, trying to come up with something new and cute for you, and it finally came to me tonight.

This is what I came up with.

Do you want to know what they are?

They're BOO!k marks. Ha, ha, ha

I kill myself.

Seriously though. I designed these things to be printed out as 4x6 prints (hello photo center of the cheap prints), and then you can just cut them vertically into 2" x 6" bookmarks.

You can leave them like this . . . the old fashioned way, functional, old school.

Whatever.

Or you can fold them in half so they are short and cute like this.

I just looooooooove the spider.

I actually detest spiders in real life. All spiders must DIE. But this one I could hug.

I like the cute little ghostie guy too.

Eeek! They're killing me.

So, as I was saying. The cute little short bookmarks actually are not done. They need to be magnetized.

Do you have any of these freebie magnets still lying around? Or is it laying around? Cripes, I'm supposed to know this stuff.

So, as I was saying . . . . Geez, do I keep saying that? I'm sorry. As I was saying, go find your freebie magnets and cut them up. You need two pieces for the bottoms of each bookmark.

Adhere the magnets to the inside of the bookmarks with double sided adhesive. By the way, that is a roll of magnet tape that you see there, and I didn't use any of it. It was there just in case I ran out of the free stuff.

Once you get your magnets on . . .

SHA-ZAM! You have a bookmark.

Does anyone else remember that 70s dude, Shazam, or am I crazy?

I mean, besides me being crazy, am I alone here?

Never mind. Forget I said anything.

Here are some bookmarks for you to give it a go yourself. Don't forget to click on the picture before you save it to your computer, so that you get the highest resolution. If you forget that step, you might get blurry bookmarks.

Have fun! I'm going to bed.

Controlling My Domain Name

2009-10-08T19:15:00.002-06:00

For awhile now I've been wanting to purchase my domain name, but I had no idea how to go about doing it. Now, thanks to this post over at Mama's Losin It, I think I did it. Now the only thing I'm wondering is if my posts are showing up for those that have subscribed to me in a feed reader. If you subscribe, could you please just give me a quick "I got it" in the comments if you still see me? Thanks!

Oh, by the way, my SITS day yesterday was A-Mazing. Wow! What a wild ride. It's going to take me months to follow up on all the comments. Thanks for reading my yackity yack.

My SITS Day is Here!

2009-10-07T00:01:00.000-06:00

Welcome to my little corner of the Blogosphere! I'm so excited to have my turn as the featured blogger for a day on SITS. Thanks for stopping by and helping me celebrate.

If you're new here, I should warn you that I'm a teensy little bit crazy. Having a blog enables me to keep that part of myself hidden from people in my everyday encounters. A sort of a secret life where I don't hold anything back. Well, some things I hold back, but just the stuff nobody wants to hear about anyway. TMI and all that.

I'm a huge control freak and therefore a wee bit anal. I like all things organizing, I love to get my craft on, I love to cook and bake, and I'm into making digi recipe cards. Oh, and I like to give people pet names. For example, I call my husband Peanut Head. It's gotten so bad that my friends have forgotten his real name. I even had someone tell me that they tried to look my phone number up in the phone book and they couldn't understand why I wasn't listed under Peanut Head Scott.

With all that being said, here are my three favorite posts, since I had to narrow it down to three. So many decisions . . .

Happy Moms Don't Scream

Street Fighting Skillz for Girlz

The Toothfairy is a Bonehead

I hope you enjoy reading these as much as I enjoyed writing them. Thanks again for stopping by!

Too Cute for Her Boots

2009-10-06T00:01:00.002-06:00

I was in the mood for a little digiscrapping on a cold and dreary Monday evening, and since I'm short on time, I got my fix by using some quickie templates. These layouts are from the Creative Memories Cottage Garden collection and they came free on my StoryBook Creator Plus 3.0 software.

If you have the StoryBook Creator Plus 2.0 software, you should seriously consider upgrading to 3.0 because it's just $9.95 through October 31st. After that it goes up to $19.95. The full StoryBook Creator Plus 3.0 software is $64.95. I just started playing around with 3.0 a couple days ago and it's a lot different, but in a good way. It can do a lot more than 2.0 and I'm excited to learn more about it.

Also, for those of you that are already up and running with the software, I found a great blog with tips for both the Memory Manager and the StoryBook Creator Plus software. It's StoryBook Creator Plus & Memory Manager Helps and Hints. It's worth checking out.

I have just one more thing to share with you, I have digi freebie links listed on my left sidebar and I've been getting a lot of really cute digi freebies from the Creative Memories freebie site. They just put up some waaaaaay cute Halloween freebies. My favorite is a super cute little owl. That's all I'm going to say about that. If you want to know more, you're just going to have to go and check it out. Have fun!

Getting Closer to the Birds and the Bees

2009-10-05T20:45:00.001-06:00

I'm still laughing over the conversation I had with the girls at dinner this evening. Get a load of this.

Stinkerbell: Mom, do you have to dance to get married?

Zoe: No, you have to have someone stand in front of you and ask you lots of questions. Then they tell you that you can kiss.

Stinkerbell: Eeeew. I don't want the kiss. Mom, can I wipe the kiss off?

Me: No sweetie, that wouldn't be polite.

Stinkerbell: Well then, can I wipe it off when I get home?

Me: Only if no one sees you do it.

And I can't help but wonder, should I tell them about the horrid kiss from my wedding day?

All kidding aside, it's moments like these that I just want to bottle and preserve for the day when my kids are grown and gone, so I can relive them again and again. Kids don't have any idea how happy they make their parents, do they?

Give Me Cake!

2009-10-02T00:13:00.005-06:00

Peanut Head had a birthday a little over a week ago, and in this house that always means cake. There is never any mixing it up with different desserts for birthdays around here. Birthday equals cake and the cake must be chocolate.

We're very rigid like that.

So anyway, Peanut Head was traveling "for work" on his birthday so we didn't have cake exactly on his birthday.

Why the snooty quotation marks you might be asking? Well, because I was at home. With the dirty house, and the dirty laundry, and the dirty, noisy girlies, doing all the work while Peanut Head had his little mental vacation.

Yes, I'm bitter and I don't mind saying so.

So, since Peanut Head had his birthday while he was away, we made his cake when he got back. You should know that I seriously considered making his cake on his birthday and eating it before he got home, but I was too busy with all the dirty and the work to even think about cake.

So he lucked out.

I decided to let the girls help me make the cake. Because the house was already a disaster and all, and it was way worse when we were done.

But we had cake to look forward to.

And this cake? This cake is the best chocolate cake on the planet. No lie. There was only ever one cake that could even compete with this cake, and that was here.

And I'm feeling magnanimous after all that delicious, moist, chocolate decadence, so I'm going to share the recipe with you.

Except that, oopsie, I should probably mention that this recipe is a super secret family recipe, passed down from the Barefoot Contessa and cradled lovingly in my possession for many, many years. I'm real old, you know.

So all I'm asking of you, is that you please, pretty please, don't tell on me. Pinky swear on it.

You looked, so now you are sworn to secrecy. And that means you too, Alison. Don't tell. Nobody likes a tattletale.

Wimpy Mania

2009-10-01T21:57:00.008-06:00

On a recent trip to Barnes & Noble, the one where I was rendered obsolete, Stinkerbell begged and groveled for me to get her the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books. I had heard that these cartoony-journal books were popular with the tween set, but I didn't really know anything about them until I was forced to preview one for Stinkerbell.

I'm almost ashamed to admit that I thoroughly enjoyed the series. Why, you ask? Well, because the books are full of tween humor. Um, yeah. Humor for the immature and terribly awkward.

I don't know why I'm so surprised.

You're just going to have to pick one up for yourself to understand what I'm talking about. But whatever you do, watch out for the Cheese Touch.

Oops, did I say too much?

A Few of My Favorite (Teacher) Things

2009-09-27T10:58:00.009-06:00

I've been wanting to share some of my classroom organizing tips, and I finally got my ducks in a row enough to remember to take my camera to school so I could snap some pictures to share with you.

This first picture is my classroom set of number magnets. Each child is assigned a number which is purely for organizational purposes. I never refer to the kids by their numbers, which is the first thing that parents worry about when you start assigning numbers to their kids.

I get that. But it's not used in an impersonal way so it's really not an issue.

I have to give credit for this brilliant idea to my friend, Janet. She came up with this and it's being used by quite a few teachers in our school now.

As I mentioned, each student has their own number. When they enter the classroom in the morning, their first job is to move their number magnet to their lunch choice for that day. This enables me to take the lunch count and attendance at the same time and with the same tool.

The kids have two choices for lunch each day. The first choice is assigned the color purple, so I write that choice in purple dry erase marker in the first lunch choice section and that is where they move their magnet if they choose that for lunch. The second choice is assigned the color black, so I write that choice in black and the students move their magnets to that section if that is their choice. Finally, if they brought their lunch from home, they move it to that section.

When they're all done, I know how many students want choice number one, how many want choice number two, and the magnets that are still on their numbers are the students that are absent.

It's brilliant and efficient and I love it. Thank you, Janet.

For this system, I just went to Sam's Club and bought a magnetic white board. I sectioned the boxes off with Vis-a-Vis wet-erase markers. I use these because when I go to erase today's lunch choice and put up tomorrow's lunch choice, the border won't erase with the words. You can still erase those lines, but you need something wet to do so. That way you don't have to redraw the lines every day, and that's a big time saver.

I found the different colored flat glass marbles at Robert's and I hot-glued some strong button magnets to the back. I just used a permanent marker to write the numbers on. If you have students in the primary grades, you might want to go for the larger flat glass marbles, because they're still developing their fine motor skills and all that. And they have sweet little chubby fingers and hands.

These are my bathroom, library, and hall passes. They aren't anything fancy. I also made little corresponding signs which I adhered to jumbo sized popsicle sticks with packing tape. Whenever a student leaves the room, they have to put the sign that goes with their pass into their number pocket so I know where they are.

They do have to get my permission to leave the room first, but my short-term memory stinks so the signs remind me where the missing students are when I look to their desk and wonder where they are.

When I was teaching before, I had my students put a ginormous rubber spider on their desk when they were at the bathroom. If I were teaching middle school, I would probably do that again, except I'd maybe use fake plastic vomit instead of the spider. I would do that for middle school because you rarely have more than one student out of the room at a time. Elementary school is a different story.

I got this idea from my Organizational Hero, Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater, who I taught with many years ago. He probably doesn't even remember who I am, but I got scads of anal organizing tips from him. People always ask me why I number my cupboards, and I get that it seems silly, but it can be incredibly helpful when you are asking a student to retrieve something for you and you don't have to waste time trying to describe which cupboard or drawer they can locate an item in. I wouldn't do it for my kitchen cupboards, but in the classroom I wouldn't do it any other way.

For this last idea I don't have a good picture. But I can tell you what I use these for. I post an agenda on my white board every day because it helps me stay on track and it keeps the kids from constantly asking me what we are going to do next. Many things recur over and over again, so I just typed those things up on the computer, printed them out on white paper, cut them out, adhered them to cardstock, laminated them, and finally I stuck magnets on the back. This way I can just stick the appropriate item up in its place on the agenda, add any details that need to be added, and it saves me lots of time every day.

These are just a few of the things that I do in my classroom to save me time each day.

Soccer Mom in Training

2009-09-21T21:06:00.006-06:00

Over the summer we decided to put Stinkerbell in soccer on account of she loves to run so much. So now I'm a soccer mom.

Heh, heh. Sort of.

I'm sure that real soccer moms would be loathe to claim me among their ranks. When I first signed the Stinkster up to play, I thought to myself "What's up with those ridiculous knee socks? They're so 70s."

Yes, I did.

And then I found out that the ridiculous knee socks really cover up, get this, shin guards. Who knew?

Turns out those shin guards are preeeetty darn important.

And I've been thinking, since Peanut Head is so handy and the shin guards are there anyway, why not make them work double duty and have Peanut Head install some little GPS beacon alarm thingies in the shin guards.

I know, I know, why? Well, because I think I'm the only mom on the sidelines cheering for my child and alternately interjecting "No Stink! The other way! Run THE OTHER WAY!"

And if she had the GPS beacon alarm thingies, well then I wouldn't have to yell so loud. I could just sit back and watch her abruptly change directions and run the other way, like it was her idea.

It could work. I'm going to have Peanut Head get right on that.

Stinkerbell gets that discombobulation thing from her Mama. I like to run too, and I mostly don't know where I'm going either. But it's so much fun.

Sometimes Stinkerbell gets to be the goalie too, and I'm happy to report that she doesn't seem to need any electronic assistance for that position. True, she doesn't look very alert in this picture, but she's really looking at the goalie vest in awe because she can't believe that she actually gets to be the goalie. She loves being goalie. And Girlfriend knows how to pounce on a ball, let me tell you.

I knew that getting that kitten would pay off.

Let the games begin.

Obsolete Too Soon

2009-09-13T08:00:00.002-06:00

Peanut Head went camping with the Boy Scouts Friday night so the girls and I decided that we needed a Girls' Night Out. We went out to eat at a chick food joint, then we went sho-hopping. Man, did we have fun. Well I had fun.

And okay, the girls didn't like Pier I Imports, but I got some more of these. I'm so happy because when I first saw them I bought every last one in the store and I would have liked more, so I was elated to see them again.

Now I have a set of 12, plus an extra set in case of breakage. Is that unlucky to have a set of 13? I hope not. I hate bad luck.

Anyway, I'm losing focus here. We went to Barnes & Noble, aka Heaven on Earth, and as we were walking through the parking lot I did my hand wiggle thing where I clutch my babies to me so I can hold their hands and keep them safe from danger and bad people.

And then this one, this baby that I carried in my womb, jumped away from me and refused to hold my hand. It seems that she thinks she's a Big Girl and doesn't need her Mama anymore. She's eight! Is she out of her mind?

I told her "Give me your hand this instant or I will give you a big, fat, hairy kiss! On your lips. Right here in public."

And do you know what she did?

She scoffed at me. Scoffed.

Hmph! It sort of made me reflect back to the time when she was two and her baby sister was just a few months old. We were traveling via plane to California, alone because Peanut Head was busy (working, whatever), and I was wrestling with the stroller and car seat while Stinkerbell was strapped to my torso in a front carrier and Zoe Bug was attached to me via leash.

That's right, I am that mom. The one who puts her kids on a leash.

And I don't even want to hear about what a horrible person I am. I have only this to say. Toddlers Run.

That's right. They run and they don't have the same obstacles that we have. They can run under whatever is in their way while you are forced to dodge about, hampered by your slow as molasses reflexes that don't get enough sleep, roundish body that doesn't seem to belong to you anymore, and take a guess who is going to win that race.

Hence the leash.

Now if you don't like leashes, you probably better just click on out of here right now and come back another day, because you are really not going to want to read about what happened with my toddler and her leash.

Go ahead, I'll wait until you're gone.

Okay then, reality is . . .

I have the baby in the front carrier, the toddler is on the leash, we're in the tunnel doo-dad that connects the airport to the plane and I have to put the car seat down and adjust my grip. We're right at the bend in the tunnel, and actually it's about a 90 degree bend, and the toddler starts to run away.

Not even thinking about it, I yank back on the leash and she slams face first into the tunnel wall that's right around the corner. Oopsie.

Did anyone see that?

Maybe that's why she won't hold my hand anymore. It's my fault.

I think I'll go make her a t-shirt that says "I Love My Mama!"

I've always wanted to buy a BeDazzler and I have a purpose for it now. Bwah-hah-hah-hah.

White Chocolate Popcorn

2009-09-11T17:00:00.003-06:00

Today I want to share a super simple recipe for White Chocolate Popcorn that, I promise you, will make you famous. Or at least get you noticed. Just don't make it on a hot day, or maybe never in Texas would be a good rule of thumb.

Unless you're in air conditioning, then it would probably be okay.

I say this because the magical coating will get all melty and then it'll get all over your hands, which means you'll have to lick it off, and I know you wouldn't do that.

That would be indelicate.

Anyway, I got this recipe from Melanie-Who-I-Almost-Killed-With-Pie, and she was kind enough to share it with me, even after her near death experience at my house. Oopsie.

Okay, so here's what you need to make this stuff: 1 bag of microwave popcorn and 3 squares off a brick of almond bark. Yes, I know, it's called White Chocolate Popcorn, but I use the words "white chocolate" loosely. It's really just man made chemicals strung together to create a magical experience.

Nothing sinister, just magic.

The first step is to pop the popcorn and pour it into a bowl. Be sure to remove any unpopped kernals.

Then melt the magical ingredient in the microwave and then gently pour it over the popcorn and mix thoroughly, tossing to coat.

Finally, dump the popcorn out onto waxed paper and let it air dry. This is the hardest part. My theory is that it is impossible to let it dry completely without eating at least half of it. I've tested it over and over again, and Every. Single. Time. I cannot leave it alone.

But that's just me. No self control, you know.

Here's the recipe card, not that you need it.

Beaded Lanyard

2009-09-08T18:55:00.002-06:00

Check this out. It's my new beaded lanyard for my school ID/key card. Isn't it nifty? I'd like to take the credit for making it, but that goes to my BFF, Janae, aka Girl Genius and Master of Toe Candy.

Janae completely designed it, and then handed me beads to string, one at a time, just so I could feel like I was making a contribution.

She's so nice like that. Always thinking about my fragile ego.

Janae works at Robert's and, let me just say this, that's like being a junkie drug dealer, if you know what I mean. Girlfriend should not be around all things crafty because she has no self control.

Which is why she's my BFF.

I love her. And I love my new lanyard. Next she's going to "help" me make a lanyard for every holiday and then probably some that I make up too.

Janae says that I need a lanyard that will go with everything I wear, and I told her that I'm only wearing clothes that match my lanyard.

I hope that's not too limiting.

School Daze

2009-08-31T19:44:00.004-06:00

Here are the girlies on their first day of school. A week ago.

School started for the girls and I a week ago today, and let me tell you, life is cuh-RAZY right now. I can hardly believe I've gone for more than a week without touching my blog, let alone had any time to read other people's blogs.

We are very much in survival mode right now. I started the school year completely overwhelmed by the multitude of textbooks and the accompanying paraphernalia that they seem to come with these days. By Tuesday I was on information overload and experienced a series of little mini meltdowns, all at home thankfully.

I'm not a big whiner, generally, but when Peanut Head came home Tuesday and asked me how my day was, I couldn't get an intelligible word out. I responded "I . . . I . . . I . . . iiiiiittttt's just so HAAAAARD! Whaaa!"

And yes, it was all accompanied by the Ugly Cry. The one where my lips curl up into my nostrils and I can't get them back down to cover my teeth properly. And of course this flattering display is always accompanied by much sputtering and snorting, and just a little bit of snot.

Sorry.

But I got through it after the attractive venting session with Peanut Head and the good cleansing and snort filled cry in the shower. And things are getting better every day.

My sixth graders are great too. They're an amazing bunch of kids and very well-behaved. I have their fifth grade teachers to thank for that, I'm sure.

We are still very busy, and as predicted I need to beef up our supply of under drawers for these lean laundry days.

But we are alive and well, and I don't want you to think that we dropped off the planet or anything like that. I may be popping in and out of here less often and more sporadically, but I will be continuing with the blog, so just keep me in your feed reader and I'll show up now and then. I read each and every one of your comments. Thank you for taking the time to leave them, they brighten my day.

I'll be around . . .

CH-CH-CH-Changes

2009-08-20T23:15:00.002-06:00

So, I have some news.

You may have noticed that I haven't been blogging as much. Well . . .

I got a job.

Yep. I'm going to be teaching sixth grade again, but this time at an elementary school instead of a middle school. Yes, an Elementary school so I'm preeeeetty sure the Potty Prancers will not be appropriate. Not that they ever were, but I think you know what I mean. In fact, I broke down and made some respectable ~~potty~~ bathroom passes instead. I'll try to remember to get pictures of those tomorrow to share with you.

Life is going to be changing around here. The girls are going to have more responsibilities than ever, and I'm going to relax my housekeeping standards. Seriously, a lot of relaxing and letting things go is going to be happening.

I've always admired working mothers and wondered how they did it all. For me, I know the answer is going to be that I can't do it all, but instead I will do what I can, ~~crappily~~ well and make sure that what I choose to do is important to me. And I'm going to go and buy a lot more underwear for those lean laundry days.

Not only that, but certain things around here are going to be streamlined. The girls and I had a hair appointment the other day. I got some highlights, or a weave, or whatever it is that girlie girls call this . . .

And I love it. Funny story though, take a look at my Ginormic Head. My head really is not that big. In fact, I have kind of a pin head with a no-neck that looks a little small for my body. Or maybe my body is too big for it. I don't know.

Either way, my head is super-sized here because my hair lady, The Magician, teased it. I believe the term that she used is "back comb," but the result is the same. I ended up with this helmet of hair that I could not believe belonged to me. Seriously, it was immovable, sort of nest-like, and oddly perfect in shape. I could not stop touching it and looking at it. It defied gravity.

Hmmmm. Can I back comb my boobs?

So, I got my hair refreshed and the girlies got their heads shaved.

I'm a horrible mother and this is proof.

For all of our relatives that will be calling (Aunt Marcia), horrified, to demand of me "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO THEIR GOLDEN LOCKS?!!!" I'm going to have to just stop and have a moment of silence and gratitude for Caller ID.

Amen.

I had to get the girls' hair cut short because I will not have the time to mess with it in the mornings. And I know this sounds like an excuse, and maybe it is, but you know about Zoe Bug's little issue. The issue which still has not been resolved even though I was hopeful that the silky pillow case would be the magic bullet. I won't post that picture again because it's responsible for ruining several computer monitors, and for that I apologize. Really, I do.

So I got the girls excited about (I bribed them with ginormous lollipops) getting short (boy) haircuts, all for my own selfish needs.

I've been telling them for weeks that we were going super short with their hair so that they could learn how to comb their own hair. While it was short. And easy. And it was going to be motivation for them to take care of their own hair. So that when they could prove to me that they were ready for long hair by taking care of it themselves, well then they could have long hair.

Yeah. I'm sooooooo smart.

And I know that you know how this is going to turn out, but I'm going to say it anyway.

It backfired.

It backfired BIG.

They love their new hair. They especially love the bangs and to torture me they insist that their bangs be spread out just so on their foreheads in Frankenstein fashion, mocking me. Mocking me. Mocking me.

And I ask you, who won this round?

Backpack ID Tags Take Two

2009-08-16T21:25:00.000-06:00

My kids start school next week, so the past several weeks I've been trying to get all their things ready to go. Today I finished their backpack ID tags.

Last year I posted the tags I made for them here, but this year I've changed them a little. The first thing I did differently was to create the tag itself in my Creative Memories digital scrapbooking program. I also laminated the ID tags with my laminator instead of using the plastic badge holders. The tags feel more durable this way, but time will tell.

I'm not sure that our family is the best for stress testing the tags since we have girls. I say this because I see what boys do to their backpacks. They use them as shot puts, they use them as sleds (with or without snow), and all sorts of crazy things. Boys are rough on backpacks. And everything else.

Stinkerbell's backpack has been through two years with Zoe and it's about to start its second year with Stinkerbell. That's what I'm talking about.

Here's what Zoe's tag looked like when I was making it in my software program. After I printed it, I cut it right down the middle and used the right side for the back of the tag and the left side for the front of the tag.

I feel like I should mention that the Creative Memories software is not Mac compatible. You see it on my Mac because I'm running it through windows with a Boot Camp partition blah de blah, gobbledy-gook. The Rocket Scientist set it up for me and it works, that's all I know and it's all I care about.

Once I cut the tag in half, I mounted each side on a piece of card stock. It makes the tag a little more sturdy and it looks nicer that way.

Then I ran it through my BFF, the laminator. I'm thinking for Halloween I need to come up with a Laminator costume. Sort of a parody on The Terminator. I haven't figured out the logistics yet, but I think a cape is involved. Maybe some kind of laminated paper cape. Hmmmm.

You can see here that the tag still needs to be trimmed. I trimmed it, leaving a little excess at the top so I can beribbon it. That's important, you know.

Here are the lunchbox ID tags. They're about half the size of the backpack tags.

Once all the tags are trimmed to the size I want, I round the corners with my corner rounder. We're accident prone in this house, so I want to get rid of sharp corners.

Plus I don't want Stinkerbell putting someone's eye out when she lets them have it with her backpack.

I used my Crop-a-Dile to punch holes in the tags, and then I slipped a split ring through each tag. Split rings are simply key chain loop thingies. The size I used were 20 mm.

For the backpack ID tag, I punched some extra holes along the top to tie ribbon to. I didn't do it on the lunchbox tags because lunchboxes are hard enough to keep clean without adding ribbon to them.

The final step is to seal the ribbon with heat so that it doesn't fray. I just use a lighter and swoop in real quick. Any longer and your ribbon will catch on fire. Take my word for it.

I also have a lobster clasp attached to this keyring. It makes it easier to clip to the backpack zipper, and I can take it off a lot quicker if I need to wash the backpack. You don't have to have the lobster clasp though. They keyring alone is enough.

I'm starting to think these would make cute luggage tags too. Oh the possibilities.

Here are the lunchboxes.

I love the Dora lunchbox.

But I think the Hannah Box is going to meet with tragedy. I had a dream that it got run over by a bus.

Hey, it could happen.

BBQ Ribs

2009-08-13T23:16:00.009-06:00

With summer on it's way out, I had to share this BBQ Pork Ribs recipe with you before it's too late. The light is already changing here in Idaho. It's taking on that yellowy gauzy cast which reminds me of sunsets. It gets me a little bit excited for fall, but at the same time I'm sorry that summer is coming to an end.

This is the spice rub, which you rub all over the racks of ribs then cover and refrigerate overnight.

The secret to great ribs is not only in the sauce, but also to cook them long and low. Something I don't always have the patience for.

It's worth it though. By the way, there's really no way to eat ribs daintily. They're finger food. Smashley was trying to cut at them with her knife and fork and she wasn't getting anything. It was hilarious. Of course, I took it upon myself to make fun of her. Some things were made to be eaten with your hands, OCD issues and all.

In fact, Stinkerbell has a little trick for food like this. She takes a wad of napkins in each hand and then grabs the food with them. Sure, you end up eating a little napkin that way, but if you're an OCD freak like her, apparently it's worth it.

I think you should make some BBQ ribs this weekend. And if you want to eat them while wearing rubber gloves, I won't tell.

Juxtaposition

2009-08-11T20:04:00.005-06:00

Hmmm. What's wrong with this picture?

You got it. I need to clean my floors. I don't know how I've let them get this bad.

At least the girls are only playing on the floors in their pretty dresses before church. I think there's something wrong with that. Aren't we supposed to be thinking about peace and love before we go to church, and not playing war?

Regardless, Daddy is so proud. He's been spending hours with the girls, helping them put their troops in formation, teaching them how to spot and then pick off the officers, and showing them how to get the maximum body count with just one shot from the Nerf dart gun.

I do my part too. The troops were on maneuvers in the hall the other day and I leaned down with my blow dryer to see how many I could take out with one blast. It turns out none.

I guess they've been practicing so much and now they're Army Strong.

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Another Problem Solved

2009-08-08T23:55:00.004-06:00

I'm so excited to share this new thing with you, I can barely contain myself.

SCREECH . .. . SQUEAL . . . . EEEEEEEE.

Sorry. I tried to hold it in, but I have no self control.

Okay, last school year I made up this little grid doo dad in Excel. A little mini spreadsheet so to speak, that I kept on the fridge. In the mornings I could look at the day of the week to remind the girls and myself of recurring weekly things that we had to remember stuff for. If it's a P.E. day, no dangly earrings, skirts or clunky shoes. Show & Tell, don't forget it. Spelling test day, we can take a quick test while we're eating breakfast. You get the idea.

It's something I used every day last year and it really helped me.

Um, but it's not cute, right? I like cute.

So, I've been obsessing over this little thing and how I could put it right by my front door so it would be even more helpful, but how could I make it cute? Seriously, this is the kind of ridiculousness that takes up valuable space in my head.

And if I want to get it out, if I want to purge it, I have to satisfy the need. Right?

Now that we're all on board, take one more look at my little mini spreadsheet and then go here and come right back, okay?

Can you believe that? I love it! It's brilliant. It's exactly what I was looking for. And dang it all, the blog I found this on, The Idea Room, has some excellent ideas on it. And I needed another blog to follow like I need a hole in my head. Great.

So, super nifty idea, right? Except that in my world I want some cute to go with my spread sheet. At least for this. Because I'm going to be altering the magnetic board anyway, right?

Oh yeah. I didn't tell you about that yet. I already had this tired old magnetic board that really wasn't being used to the best of it's ability, so I stripped all that stuff off, pried the sunflowers and clothespins off, gave it a quick coat of black paint to cover up the words, and then I turned it into this.

Isn't it great? I'm so excited I can't even stand it. The second it was finished, at 1:00 a.m. this morning, I woke Peanut Head up and demanded that he hang it up for me ASAP.

He declined.

So, here's what I did to pull the vision together. I put a thin coat of Modge Podge on the sheet metal, then I smoothed scrapbook paper down. Then I covered it all with a thin coat of Modge Podge on top. In this picture you see bubbles, but I cursed those bubbles and smooshed them down so they vacated pronto. Well, after the Modge Podge dried, or at least some time during the drying process. I don't need to know the science behind it. It's magic.

Once the Modge Podge dried a little, I couldn't wait for it to dry completely, I put some Photo Tape on a couple pieces of gross grain ribbon and I adhered them over the seams where the different pieces of paper met. The ribbon makes a nice divider for the sections of my board.

Then I put the girls' names down, which I cut with my Cricut that I'm in love with, and I printed out a couple of cute pictures. It was Janae's brilliant idea to attach magnets to the backs of the pictures so I could change them out as the girls grow. How cool is that?

I made my days of the week and my things to remember in Excel. I did them in Excel because a) I love Excel and b) I could do them quickly and add the uniform borders super fast. Hey, you use what you know, right? I'm sure there are other ways to do it, but this is what I did. Just call me Spreadsheet Girl.

I printed my reminders on plain white paper and then I cut them out, leaving a smallish border around the black line border.

Then I laminated them, of course. And the best part? I gathered up all those cheapo, I mean free, magnets that I've collected from phone books and businesses, and I cut them up to turn my reminders into magnets.

Crazy, isn't it? I love crazy.

I was able to get five magnets out of one business card sized magnet. The odd size magnets like the trash truck, not so much. But that's okay because they were free.

Next I applied tape runner to the backs of the magnets and stuck them on the backs of my laminated reminders that I cut apart and trimmed.

And TA-DA! Brilliant, huh? This is what I love, love, love about reading other people's blogs. I find some of the coolest ideas and I get so much inspiration from people in the blogosphere.

And now I've solved another one of my Great-System-But-It's-Not-Cute dilemmas.

Is there a support group out there for that? Maybe with the name Freaks of the World Unite or something catchy like that.

Here's my new magnet board in its new home, right behind my front door. I so love it. Go ahead, tell me I'm a freak. I can take it.

For Crying Out Loud . . . SMILE!

2009-08-05T22:50:00.007-06:00

Remember when I had Stinkerbell's pictures taken by the amazing Brandee? Well, I finally got Zoe Bug's pictures taken too. The pictures above are great, but let me tell you, Brandee had to really work for them.

Zoe spent at least a half an hour refusing to smile. I about came unglued on her.

We even put Stinkerbell in there to try and warm her up. Which was a little ironic since we had the same problem with her. At least when Brandee asked her to smile this time, she immediately pulled one of her fakey smiles.

Zoe got a little silly too, but she wouldn't cooperate, the little monster. Brandee had to go in and PhotoShop her smile, pulling it slightly up at the corners. She's amazing.

Zoe's wearing her poopie face in this picture. We call it that because, well, . . . never mind.

Apparently we can't make her smile.

I had the idea to run home to get Zoe's pink boots, and when I came back the girls were running around the house chasing Brandee's puppy and giggling like there was no tomorrow.

It loosened Zoe right up.

Now that's better. It's not a full on smile, but it's not sullen discontent either.

But maybe this one is.

I see my baby in this one. Zoe hasn't changed one bit since she was about eight months old. Sure, she's bigger and she has more hair, but her face is exactly the same.

She has lots 'o forehead, no eyebrows and no visible eyelashes. Which makes her forehead look even more expansive.

Except today, because my friend, GaeLyn, artfully applied some eyebrows and I swiped her eyelashes with a little mascara. I wonder if Zoe felt like Miss Potato Head, the way we tore into her with the hair and the make-up.

What do you think?

Personally, I love Zoe with eyebrows and eyelashes. She's a sweet little thing and I could just eat her.

Here we have Happy Meets Melancholy.

It's really a look, but don't confuse it with Zoolander's Blue Steel.

This is introspective.

Flirty.

Sassy.

I love Zoe Bug. She's my Delicate Flower.

And then there's this little stinker.

Man, what a pair these two are. T-R-O-U-B-L-E. All caps.

Okay, forgive me, but do they look like someone cut some scary mouths out of a magazine and pasted them on their faces, slightly out of proportion?

That's what you get when you fake a smile. Remember that and don't let it happen on your face.

Doesn't Zoe look like a little lady in this picture? Trust me, it's an anomaly. I can't get Girlfriend here to keep her legs crossed when she's wearing a dress. Ever. She prefers to sit with her legs sprawled out in opposite directions. Just like her Daddy.

I think she's part spider or something.

Whoa Nelly! I wasn't prepared for this one, but I about fell on the floor laughing when I saw it.

Zoe recently learned how to cross her eyes like this. She taught Annika how to do Taco Tongue and Annika taught her how to cross her eyes.

They're helpful like that.

Zoe Bug loves her new boots. Every time we leave the house she tries to get away with wearing these babies with shorts. I tell her "Try again, Sister," and she stomps off all melodrama and petulance oozing out of her pores.

Now I have to go through the bazillion pictures that Brandee took, and figure out which ones I want prints of. I've only shown you a fraction of them, but let me tell you, I have my work cut out for me.

Which one is your favorite of Zoe Bug? Help me out here.

Please.