Huge and breaking news....

For the love of all that is holy, I wish they would SHUT UP about this road they are fixing in my city.  You would think that they were removing all roads in Michigan and replacing them with broken glass and making people walk bare foot to work.

It's all the news has been about.

~New routes to take

~Police at the corners watching for trouble

~bagel shops getting more traffic because the cars are being routed their way

~local news people standing on the corners showing the traffic backed up

~reviewing the new routes
~posting the new routes on their websites

~reminding everyone it starts today

~giving it cute catch phrases

THE FIX ON I-96!

I guess I better see if there's a new episode of Jersey Shore

 or 

Jerseylicious

IF you don't know of "The Fix on I-96", Jersey Shore, or Jerseylicous...
Consider yourself LUCKY!!!
I'm going to go check out Zappo's
http://www.zappos.com/womens-shoes
I've been hearing a lot about this place (thanks: in my mind, it's always funny!!)
and do you know I just typed in my shoe size and 13,123 pairs came up!
WHAT THE WHAT???
I'm a size 5 and it stinks... even Target ditched their 5's for 5 1/2's.  I still HEART Target and I'll forgive them, but still.... why so much hate for those of us with bound feet?
AND, why do they put the smallest sizes on the TOP shelf?  How many lucky girls that are 5'7" and taller are wearing a size 5 shoe?  "Undercover Boss" needs to head to Target and get the tiny shoes off the top shelf!
OH crap, here comes another FIX ON I-96 update....
Happy Monday!  Darling Daughter started back to school today, so my break started at 8:13 this morning!!

Lovely Lavender!!

Hey Gals!

I'm scrapbooking with friends today so I'm going to leave you with some really pretty lavender images!

Purple was my favorite colors for YEARS, I shared that love with my Grandma on my Dad's side.  A sweet ol' Southern lady from Tennessee who passed away just a few years ago.  She ALWAYS said "come on over here and give Grandma sugar".... I miss her!

One time her sister came to visit her in Indiana and she had this super thick southern accent us kids found a bit hard to understand but she made this one comment that will stick with us forever:

"Juanita, give that dog a weiner"

Yep, greater words of wisdom were never spoken! hahahaha!

Honestly, my brother and I say this often, I guess she was telling her sister to give some dog part of a hot dog... of course, being the weirdo's we are, this is all we remember from her visit!

So what does this have to do with lavender you ask?  Why NOTHING, my friend, nothing at all!

Moving on...

are these roses to DIE FOR?  As a florist for many years, the rose is not my favorite, but these??!!! 

GORGEOUS!!!

all images above are from:

http://weheartit.com/

The following are from:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/chinamommy

(this one sold, but I can do special orders on the cupcakes!)

Have a great day and a relaxing weekend!!

Why I'm too busy to post much today...

Still on Spring Break here...

Which means:

❤an inability to get dressed before noon (oh, wait I have that trouble even when it's not spring break!)
❤cake as a mid-morning snack

❤cotton candy for bedtime snacks

(cotton candy comes in plastic bags now, Darling wants it in a paper cone like she's seen in some movie, so I taped a piece of paper together, threw in some cotton candy and look who is happy as a clam?)

❤Girl/Dog fights

❤bad outfits and cross-dressing dogs

❤taking the contents of Darlings piggy-bank to the bank

Ok, she won't quit making requests of me while I type, so I'm outta here for today!  I have a couple of friends coming tomorrow to scrapbook so I have to go get something for us to eat, and get pictures printed at Walgreens.  I also have to run to the bank, pick up my contacts and I know there's something else I have to do, but I just can't remember it right now... Hope I didn't have to pick anyone up at the airport!

Have a great day!!

Poop, pottery, and a great bed...

i can't stay long, darling daughter is home, the dog needs to poop and I've got to get my lower lever cleaned up!

Yesterday the day started with the dog pooping in the garage, have I told you how much this puppy bugs me?  Well, he does!  Hey, I'm not cleaning it up, darling is the one that wanted him for her birthday!  He's a Yorkie so it's not like buffalo poop!

I took a movie on my camera of the whole poo-situation, but she begged me not to post it... I know you're sad, aren't you?

Then we headed to the pottery place.  She was so cute she kept saying "Mom if you want to take a picture while I'm not looking and I'm just concentrating, you can".

this is the giant cappuccino cup she's painting for her favorite person in the world:

ME!

She painted the inside brown so it would look like coffee, she was pretty proud of herself for being so hilarious- she cracked herself right up!

She also painted a food dish for her dog.  They called it a condiment bowl... whatever, he's small!  The only other pet dish was just right for a Saint Bernard, our dog could have taken a bath in it!

and then we saw this on the way home:

have you ever bought a mattress off of a phone pole? 

I just never would... but that's me.  I left the phone # visible in case you're interested!

Ok, it's too quiet in this house, something must be up and it better not be dog poop!

Naked Plates!

It's kinda rainy here today... 

Darling is on spring break and we're doing a stay-cation, so today we're off to a naked plate place where you paint your own pottery.  

all images found here:

http://weheartit.com/

Have you ever been to one of those places?

I went a few years ago and loved it!!

Darling wants to paint a bowl for her dogs food.  Right now he has a plastic bowl that he chews up and drags around the house when it's empty... He's annoying like that!

So this weird mom:

(don't worry, I don't need eye surgery, I just can't take a serious picture to save my life...)

and this pirate girl:

are gonna hang out today!

Thanks for all the compliments on the kitchen yesterday!  It's so weird to walk into it in the morning and think I'm in the wrong house!  I got some really pretty stuff at Hobby Lobby yesterday and ordered the granite, so more pictures coming in the next couple of weeks!

AND, to REALLY brighten up your day....

You can vote for my blog DAILY!!  There actually is a cash prize... NO LIE!  So if you'd vote and ask 9,000 of your closest friends to join in I'd sure be thrilled!!

Just click on this link and look for "chinamommy", hit the thumbs UP to vote, easy peasy!

http://bloginterviewer.com/page/36

My New /Old Kitchen!!

This WAS my kitchen at 8:23 1/2 am on Saturday...

I'm not a big fan.  I don't like oak and how 'bout those purple counter tops?

It's soooooooooooo 1998!

Don't worry the Mister didn't pick it out, he bought it from the 1st owners who, obviously, were graduates of one of those interior design schools you find in the back of a magazine.

Ewwww, I hate this!

oak, purple tops, red plates, white appliances, light turquoise curtains, dark green walls.

I think they call this:

got it goin' ON!

This is the only picture I have of the Island.  Weird how I didn't take more pictures of it, hun? :)

So last summer, this "choosey Mom",  got a bug up her butt and painted the island BLACK:

Saturday I distressed it... I think it looks SO much better

This picture does NOT do it justice, trust me, it looks REALLY good!

So, being the fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kinda gal that I am I just wanted to crack open the paint and start slappin it on, but (lucky for me) the Mister is a real stickler for doing it the "right" way. He took all the pulls off, then removed all the doors and took them to the garage where he had saw horses set up (yee-hawww)

There he is giving me the look...

We painted the top cabinets a color by Behr called: Dragonfly.

Do I have a red and turquoise thing or what?

Red car-Turquoise cabinets!

It looks a little more light blue in these pictures, it's more turquoise actually.

(Red dishes-Turquoise cabinets!)

Obviously, I couldn't go with the clear glass cabinets... I did clean out a few things after seeing

all the crap I have stuffed in these!

10:07 am...

Looking BETTER!

almost 1:30 in the afternoon... we'd been at it all morning!

With the black bottom doors put on too!

The red kettle is from my Aunt Mable who lived to be 99 or 100- no one knew for sure!  She was the sweetest lady to walk the earth and I think everyone should have an Aunt Mable!! (and a giant bottle of Up and Up hand sanitizer!!)

By the time I took these pictures, it was getting later, so I really had to blow out the color so you could see them... my pic's were SO dark.

and of course when we got it all done we knew we HAD to do something with the counters!

We had talked about granite, but I didn't really want to make that kind of investment and put it on old cabinets and we weren't sure if we really wanted to take the leap and put in a BIG $$ kitchen.  After painting the cabinets I told the Mister that I loved them so much I'd just as soon spend some $ on stainless appliances and new counter tops, to which he replied "does it ever end?  You wanting something else?!" that would be a big ol "NOPE!!".  We went to Home Depot and looked at a granite look laminate which I wasn't THRILLED about but I found one I didn't mind.  We grabbed several samples and headed out.... As we were passing by the tile dept. the ol' lightbulb came on... why not install granite tile countertops?!!!  

The Mister is handy and I know everything, so how hard can it be?

This is the one we picked out:

Darling and I are going to order it today!  and.... of course, the Mister (being all reasonable and stuff) will be going to the tile class this Saturday, just to make sure!  Whatever!

Good Friday!

Good Friday... and by Good I mean I'm not going to freak out about the eggs, I mean it's not like you tune in because I'm Martha Stewart!

Here's what I did and if anyone REALLY wants the details, you know all you have to do is leave a comment and I'll fill ya in!

I'm in hopes the felt rose doesn't look like some weird nipple on the egg...

they're not done.... of course!  Let's pick up next Easter, shall we?

Ok, I have to get this girl to the Easter Bunny who knows if I have another year of her believing this... she's going to be 7 in July, my days are numbered.  She's my only child and so I have to stuff her with EVERY single happy childhood memory I can while trying not to overload her!  You know like the time I told her "go away I'm trying to document your childhood" while i was scrapbooking.  Yep, I can get a little carried away!

Today I have to get the bunny picture, finish that jelly bean foam house and dye eggs and then go to Target to replace the Cadbury Mini eggs... Those eggs and the Reece's eggs are my only big temptation out of the basket.  I got her one of those nasty waxy Palmer bunny's with GIANT ears- she WANTED it.  I never got those as a kid, we had to have "the good stuff" so my mom could eat it while we were sleeping!  I was always so envious of my best friend who got a basket loaded with 84 lbs of cheap candy!  When you're a kid who wants 5 pieces of $15 chocolates?  NOT ME!  I was all about quantity, NOT quality!

I leave you with a very happy Easter memory:

My Dad, who is not one to worry, came to me several years ago and asked if I knew why Mom wasn't home yet;  she taught an Adult education class.  I didn't know, so he said he was going to drive into town and look for her.  Again my Dad is NOT a worrier- he leaves that to my Mom, although since it says in the Bible worrying is a sin, she's calls it being "concerned" (don't be mad Mom, you KNOW you do!).  So seeing my dad is concerned I start to get a little worried, errr... I mean "concerned". I'm not sure  why is he surprised she's late getting home- we were never on time anywhere when I was growing up and now that I have a child I see why!  Anywhooooo- Dad and I get in the car and drive into town.  As we pass by the Hook's drug store I see her car and see her just sitting in the driver's seat, so we pull in.  She gets out of the car and comes over to us right away. As she starts to say "hey what are you guys doing here?", I stop her because the distinct scent of a PEANUT BUTTER EGG is on her breath!  What do you know, she wasn't being raped in the basement by some wild adult ed'er, she was shoveling those PB eggs as fast as she could in the parking lot of a drug store!  I don't think my Dad was thrilled that the one time he was concerned about her safety, he should have just been concerned about the arteries she was blocking!

Hope you have a wonderful Easter with your friends and families!

Remember, it's really NOT about the eggs!

Thursday... Day of the egg....

Oh crap this is the day i said i'd show the eggs i was making and i was going to... and i still might.  i had to go this morning to get life insurance and that made me all a twitter and my stomach hurt and i was sure we'd die on the way back to the house and my precious wonderful daughter would have to go live with the waste of a parasite that i was married to when I adopted her and her life would be ruined and.....

Oh boy, have I mentioned OCD runs in my family?

so now i am downstairs gluing and glittering and painting and trying like a freak to get these eggs done.  i'm still in my jacket cause i didn't have time to take it off and I thought i'd be able to finish them up, photograph them and post them in 7 or 8 min. but then i had to eat a banana to counter act the organic chocolate cake with "full on chemical frosting" i used and now it's after 11 and I still have to go to the store cause I'm leaving on a cruise in 23 days and i have nothing to wear.  i had it in my head i was running to the store today and once it's in my head it will just throw off the rotation of the Earth if i don't go!

So i go to get online and I notice my darling has done something to the computer and i no longer have that thing on the side where are my favorites are and i just go to the apple homepage and then have to type everything i want in that search thingy at the top.... what happened?  How do i get it back... Oh there's that time machine thing..... Hmmmm- if it brings me back to the time i was married to that idiot and didn't have a dime to my name I don't know what I'll do.  I think I'll leave it alone.

Ok, I guess I'll post the eggs tomorrow so that it's too late for anyone to make them but they look better than they do right now....

Story of my life!

Ok, how about a sneak peak now that I've pulled my camera out of the pile of glue that was on my work bench... oh i wish i was kidding!

grab some mod podge and some eggs.. if you can't find paper mache, wooden ones or even plastic will work...with plastic you may want to rough them up a bit with some sandpaper!

get some images, pages from books (goodwill is a great place to get paperbacks for .25!  Read them then rip em up for craft projects!).

ribbon, lace, velvet trim... whatever!

i took pages from my book and cut them into thin strips about 1/2 to 3/4 inch wide

When it goes over the curve of the egg it's best to cut little slits all up each side of the paper

See the picture above?  I found out after a few strips it's really best to do it ALL along the edge, tiny little slits so it wraps better.

I mixed extra fine glitter with my mod podge but you can buy it already with glitter in it.  GLOB it on and keep using your brush to get the paper nice and wet and pushed down.

My mini $5 fan from Menards (Save big $ at Menards.... do you have those where you live?  If so you're now singing the song in your head and might be for the next several hours!).  That fan is one of the best buys ever for my studio!  I burn the crap out of everything if i try to use my embossing gun... an extra hair dryer might be good too if it has a cool setting!

Anyway, after you've got the strips on, let it dry for a while then use your fingers to press down any stubborn areas- you'll find it's still a bit damp underneath and will lay down better....

Ok, rather than post a bunch of 1/2 done crappy eggs, I'll show you the rest tomorrow and then you can work on your own for NEXT Easter!!

Ok, it's almost noon and I'm on the hunt for a bathing suit that does NOT have Dora on it!

Happy April Fool's Day!!

If you know of a good joke to play on a (very serious) 6 year old let me know!!  

I've already thought of telling her our house burnt down or someone died, but the Mister gave me a lecture!  Geesh, you tell your kid her eye is hanging out 1 time when you accidentally bumped her and he gets all mature and parental on me!  I told her I'd push it back in!!!