Five-things I can't live without

Well, that sounds rather dramatic, doesn't it? The basics and my lovelies(hubby and babies) aside...these are some items I pretty much use every single day...

1. my laptop. my hubby would laugh and probably object to that title...it's really his, but I use it more than him...and I think I have wayyyy more files saved on this here piece of technology than he does.

2. my glasses.more of a necessity than anything. i don't really love them that much, but I did at one time. it has been wayyy too long since i have had my eyes checked for contacts...in fact, in the next few weeks, i really want to do that.

3. my phone. we got rid of our landline and just have stand alone wireless, so it's pretty important to keep the phone at my side at all times. that has been hard for me!!

4. my salt rock deodorant. i love this. love it. no chemicals like aluminum to get into my pits. just salt. and it really works. and lasts forever.

5. my hooks. really can't go a day without making something. there are just too many projects and too little time.

what are five things you can't go a day without?

we shook it up today

after folding a Mt. Everest size pile of laundry, I took the kids to the aquarium and bio park. look at who else was there...


that's right, Thomas and Percy. made my little man's day.

nifty thrifty melts

We had such a fun morning. A friend of mine posted this idea on our forum and I decided to give it a whirl.

After the tots woke up, we got to work peeling all those scrappy old crayons I keep finding everywhere in the house. I thought it would be a lot faster...silly me...I was thinking my three year old would be peeling paper off too...but alas, I peeled and he watched. ***He did tell me that I was so nice and he was so happy I was his mommy in the middle of this project...totally melted my heart!!***

After literally almost an hour of peeling...(And I really didn't have that many crayons to peel) I was done. I placed them on wax paper on a cutting board and chopped them into smaller pieces with my chef's knife. When I finally had the bowl full of chopped crayons, I had my babes add the pieces to these Target dollar spot ice cube trays I bought a couple weeks ago.

I placed them in the oven at 250 degrees for about 12-14 minutes and took them out to cool.
After about 45 minutes I took them out to the delight of two VERY happy babes. I busted out the drawing pad and they have been scribbling away ever since...and talk about a really fun VALENTINE?! My friend who posted this idea on our forum is going to stick one crayon to a piece of cardstock with the words, "You color my world, Valentine" or "You melt my heart, Valentine." Love this!! :)

Five-nicknames I give my babes.

I love nicknames and I love calling my kids by those said names....especially in public. I don't like to shout out their real names around strangers so I call them these names

My boy

monkey

mancub

munchie

curly

lil'man

My Girl

ladybug

babydoll

sweetiepie

buggie

lil lamb

Do you do nicknames for your munchkins??

Making one for my sonny boy...

True, he's only got a head a torso and one arm right now, but I am slowly but surely getting mister's doll....er....action figure finished. My son is really excited about having a "dolly" of his own....but we had to think fast and give him a cutesie name...so my son wouldn't be carrying his "dolly" all over the place. We named him "Buddy."

How cute is that hair?? I used Lion Brand Homespun and brushed the heck out of it with a boar hair brush...sooooo cute!

Five- wayback pics

I guess it is wayback week on Fb. It has been fun to check out other peeps baby pics...so I finally got around to taking pics of pics (our scanner is put away right now) to make a little room for my way back pics. So here are my five I submit for you.

2 months old

2nd birthday party
first grade
6th grade...I totally had a mullet...what was I thinking? (and I couldn't pull the plastic cover off the album page...so it's distorted)
I think this is my senior yr of hs...I was about to head
to work at the grocery store...remember when your cashier wore

an apron??

Lookie what I made my babe!!!!!

Ain't she a cutie?????

Five-ChachachaCHANGES......

So we don't make New Year's Resolutions, but one thing we do is make some changes. In previous years, we have stopped purchasing bottled water...using only our Britta, and cutting MSG (Monosodium Glutamate, Spices to name a couple of it's other names) out of our diet (boy that is a lot of label reading) This year, these are five ways we are changing how we eat.

Grass fed beef only. (And only milk from pasture fed cows for the kids and in our cereal. Have you ever smelled that corn smell when you open your kid's sippies? It's because those cows were fed a diet of corn. only. Cows were not meant to eat corn.)Have you seen Food Inc.?

Free range, cage free chicken and eggs. Next time you purchase eggs...try cage free, free range...those shells are so thick and the yolks are so dark and yellow. I never noticed the difference until I was cheap one day and bought the regular white eggs and was appalled at how light the yolks were and the shells were so fragile.
NO MORE ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS Ever. ever. ever. Stevia has been great for us, and Agave nectar.

NO MORE of this junk. It's awful. It is in almost everything..thus, we are going more organic as well.

And we want to eat a lot more of these. A lot more.

Valentine Share the LOVE contest

Having a super duper giveaway on my fanpage. Jenster76 . It's for two pairs of slippers. Anyone can win...why don't you check it out??

Something Old, Something New

After taking the Christmas tree down, we were left, yet again, with a blank wall area. And again, this year, I begged and pleaded with the hubby to bring the piano inside. This year was different, though. We have talked and talked about how I want this piano inside and where I wanted it...and what color I want the wall to be behind it (turquoise)....And this year, I mentioned it in front of help. My hubby's family was over, and his dad wanted to see the piano. They measured it and the door way leading from the garage into the house...and after much pushing, prodding, and levering and heaving, we got the piano in, and up the two stairs from the den into the living room. (It's got to weigh at least a half ton)

And it is not just any piano. This is the piano I was given by my aunt...the eldest daughter of my grandmother. My grandmother passed away just days after I was married. So this piano was her piano. My grandmother was a devote Christian woman, who for many years played the piano at her teeny tiny Nazarene church. She had the lightest touch and played almost with a "ragtime" feel...I loved watching her light up and become so animated as she played...those old arthritic knuckles didn't seem to pain her anymore as she gracefully tapped these keys. She wrote over 100 songs on this piano. She kept them, all handwritten in the bench. (I don't have those, but I remember her notebook.) She never wrote any notes down, just the words, and she remembered the music just by looking at her words. Her voice was so unique, like a bird singing, riding the soundwaves up and down...I've never heard anyone like her. She was a beautiful woman. I am so happy we brought this into our home this new year. We checked out the serial numbers, and this baby just celebrated it's 100th year. Thank you Grandma Wilma for your legacy!

Five- Putting Away the Tree

So New Year's Day is the day we traditionally pack away the Christmas tree...and as today has been a pretty lazy day, we haven't gotten there yet, but it is in the plans for tonight. I thought I would snap some photos of FIVE of my favorite ornaments in daylight before we pack them away.

Some of these I have had since I was a baby...much like this year's Hallmark commercial where the mom and dad open a box full of ornaments from the mom's childhood and there is a new starter ornament for the baby...I sure wish my hubby had some from his Christmas pasts...

received on my first Christmas...1976

Hallmark 1977
I believe 1977 as well (Hallmark)

We had no tree when I received this ornament, my son was born 1wk prior, but I love his first Christmas ornament.
This year these two are my most favoritest!!! One was made by the sweetest little ladybug and the most huggable little mancub!!
Happy New Year all!!