October 30, 2012

WTF (WAY TOO FUNNY): IS IT STEVE OR IS IT RON?

Posted by Lori~

For Halloween, Steve dressed as Ron from Parks and Rec, dressed in a giant banana costume.  WE LOVE PARKS AND REC AND LOVED THE SENIOR CITIZEN SEX ED EPISODE!



I, OF COURSE, WAS LESLIE KNOPE!

PINTEREST CHALLENGE: CHOCOLATE MILK!

Posted by Lori~

Ethne and I L.O.V.E.  a good Pinterest Challenge (our fave DIY blog YoungHouseLove is at it again!) and I am very happy with my results.

I asked Mur-Man what he wanted to be for Halloween.  He said—"MILK!WHAT????

"Yes, MILK MAMA!"

And then of course, he changed his mind…and changed it again!

But in the end…we landed on Chocolate Milk.

I of course checked out the internet and then PINTEREST and there it was.
Click here for info.
This costume required felt, foam core, spray glue, scissors, a stocking hat, and yarn.  I also used wonder-under (fusible interfacing) and the sewing machine.

Check out the photos!  AND…CAN YOU SAY ADORABLE?!?




October 29, 2012

Fall Pinterest Challenge: Shower Scrubber

 Posted by Ethne~

It’s Fall Pinterest Challenge time on Lor’s and my fave DIY blog, YoungHouseLove!!


I pin a lot of great things these days (click on the Pinterest tab here on the blog and you can follow WOM-MOM’s pins), and I actually do a lot of the things I pin.  I’ve been crocheting, and styling my hair, and putting together outfits like the fashionista that I consider myself to be (in my head only I’m sure).

Be mindful that I only look like this when Whitney razzle-dazzles me.

But since YHL is a house DIY blog, I wanted to do a house DIY project.  I pinned this super cute coffee table made out of crates from Michael’s/JoAnn.  The coffee table we have in our downstairs living room had partial glass top pieces and the girls took them out and broke them to irreparable pieces; thankfully no bloodshed. 


Shaun assured me that it’s too cold out to stain or spray paint the raw wood, but I was not deterred.  I rarely listen to reason when he speaks it to me.  It’s like I have some sort of Shaun Logic Blockade in my brain.  In absence of that, I was thinking I’d have the girls write graffiti on the crates.  But when I inspected the crates last week, I deemed them too small to make a satisfactory coffee table.

So next I thought I’d do a little home décor – my sis Whit had pinned these darling little crochet acorns that you put real acorn tops on.  I envisioned putting them into my vase of wine corks for a Thanksgiving table centerpiece, but even halving the instructions (amount of stitches used), yielded a crocheted acorn ball too big for the acorn tops I have.  *Apparently* the only acorns in Minnesota are pygmy size.  The one in the picture is the largest I found; I am not attempting to crochet a pygmy yarn acorn for the same reason I don’t make Barbie clothes – TOO &^%$&^%$ SMALL!

It would have to be A LOT smaller to fit in that little top

Finally, I settled on a Pinterest project I’ve been testing for our blog anyway.  I’m sure if you’ve been on Pinterest for 2 seconds you’ve seen the ka-zillion pins for making a shower scrubber with a kitchen dish scrubber, vinegar and Dawn dish soap.  Guaranteed.


I happen to use Dawn dish soap already.  I figure if it cleans oil spills off of animals, it’s the right thing for my dishes.  Plus, my purchases contribute to Dawn’s animal fund.  And I use vinegar ALL THE TIME for stuff, from making pickles to a substitute for liquid fabric softener (yes, that works and no, our clothes don’t smell like vinegar – no lie).  Only purchase necessary: kitchen scrubber.

I did as instructed in the pin and filled the scrubber ½ with vinegar and ½ with regular Dawn dishsoap.

It looks like one 'fill' will last about a month.  The scrubber will need to be replaced soon from wear and tear.

For the past month, I’ve been scrubbing my shower down with my vinegar mix – in a rotation.  I never seem to give myself enough time to get ready in the morning.  So instead of cleaning the entire shower with the vinegar mix each day, I instead clean one wall and the tub per day in a rotation.

The results?  Well, I think about 90% successful.  I feel like I’m bathing in a pretty clean shower after a month’s time.  I know vinegar is a disinfectant, so I’m not showering the girls and myself in filth, and the tub and walls haven’t gotten nasty.

After a month, that tile looks pretty nice and the shelves are not scummy.

But just this week I started to notice some small spots of buildup on the grout of the tiles, and some soap residue on the showerhead.  I think that next week when I clean the bathroom again, I’ll clean the shower with the harsher bathroom chemicals too.

See those couple of spots there?  Not too bad for a month, but I'll take Scrubbing Bubbles to it on Saturday.
It's hard to see but 3/4 of the way down the grout, there is an orangey spot that needs some stringent cleaner.

Suds residue, even after being scrubbed with Dawn and vinegar ~ 3 x per week

Will I continue to do this?  YES.  Where Lori hates to do laundry, I hate to clean my bathroom.  With a vengeance.  If I can cut the shower scrubbing with harsh chemicals to once a month rather than once a week (hence cutting down my weekly shower cleaning time in general), I’d say that’s success. 

As an aside, for some laughs, be sure to check out one of my recent fave blogs with loads of Pinterest fails – the Pintester.  The lady has a foul mouth and a great sense of humor – right up my alley!


October 28, 2012

BABY L HAS ARRIVED!!

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Posted by Ethne~

After what seems like forever, Baby L is finally here! 

Auntie Ethne is in love with little L!

She decided that she was not about to wait a whole ‘nother week till Grizz’s scheduled c-section on the 2nd of November.  Nope, she decided that October’s birthstone of pink tourmaline sounded better.  *I agree COMPLETELY*.  (In fact, it was the first thing I said when Slags called to tell me Grizz was in labor.)  And at 8lb 7oz, if she had grown any bigger, Grizz would've been so top-heavy she wouldn't have been able to walk!

The delivery went relatively well, and very fast, and Slags and I hoofed our way down to visit straight away on Saturday.  Oh, she’s beautiful!  We took loads of pictures and a video and sent it, live, to Steph since she couldn’t be there, and I called her to give her the run-down when we left.

Best Friends from the same block - we all ended up in big city, MN!

I helped Grizz try a few nursing positions, but little L kept wanting to fall asleep, so I sat that baby right up and we got her wide awake and looking around.  Perfect for picture time!  And then she ate a little more and took a good snooze.  Life is rough when you’re one day old!

What a perfect baby!  Look at those lips!!  And a perfect tiny arch of her eyebrows!!!

Grizz’s mom, Claire, had arrived from our hometown just an hour or so before we did, via Amtrak, and you could see she was walking on Cloud 9 – a little grandbaby!

I think baby feet are the cutest EVER!

Seeing Grizz and Corey with their little princess was a joy to behold.  I can’t wait to hold her again, and watch them as a family – at last!  Love you three! 

Steph thought Corey looked like McDreamy!
Let's play a game of 'Who does baby L look like?  Here's a pic of Grizz when she isn't all full of pregnancy hormones.  I think L has Grizz's nose for sure!

Even though you’re one of our most faithful followers, Grizz, now you’re not just a WOM, you’re a WOM-MOM!  Welcome to motherhood. :)

October 26, 2012

HALLOWEEN SNEAK PEAK!


Posted by Lori~

It’s almost here and in my little city, ND HALLOWEEN KID PARTIES (AND ADULT PARTIES) start this weekend.

Here is a sneak peak at ONE of my costumes.  Let’s just say that Mur-Man and I will be a pair!  MORE ON THAT NEXT WEEK!



October 24, 2012

A SURPRISE ENGAGEMENT!!!

Posted by Ethne~
We have wonderful family news!
Shaun’s brother, Scott, proposed to his girlfriend, Erin, last Sunday!
 
I am told the proposal was magical and completely unexpected for Erin, which is so exciting!
{My proposal from Shaun was also magical because he got down on one knee in the parking lot of a strip club – because we’re classy.  As I explained to Erin, *in fairness to Shaun*, the strip club happened to share an alley parking lot with the super nice restaurant wherein Shaun actually proposed in the warehouse district of big city, MN; but I kinda wanted him to get down on one knee, so as we were leaving the restaurant, he did so in the parking lot.  That’s the good stuff, as I like to say.}
So this means I get to add a new sister-in-law to the mix and the girls add a cousin/sister (those blur together in our family) with Erin’s daughter, A.
I’m sure I’ll have a thing or two to say about the nuptials, so stay tuned!  At a minimum I told Erin I can now pay attention to the ka-zillion wedding pins on Pinterest I've ignored before.  [Insert groan from Shaun here.]
Though a common misconception, Shaun and Scott are not twins.  They are three years apart people.  (Grass level is contributing to height difference here; Shaun is not a giant.  I had to sneak attack the pic so I couldn't be picky.)
 

MINI BODEN APPLIQUE ART!

Posted by Lori~

As you know here, I LOVE MINI BODEN!  And, I especially love their appliqué shirt inspiration.
 
I for one cannot afford their prices, so I like to recreate and “steal” their designs.

My girlfriend Holly and I got together for some appliquéing!  Check out some of our awesome creations!


My version of Captain America!


Holly designed the HIPPO!
 

And remember, appliquéing is SUPER EASY.  READ ALL ABOUT HOW TO DO IT HERE!

October 23, 2012

PUMPKIN PATCH!

Posted by Lori~

Recently, Mur-Man and I, along with friends, hit the pumpkin patch in a bigger city, ND.
We had a blast! And picked up a PINK PUMPKIN!

I am in the spirit for HALLOWEEN!


October 21, 2012

IMPROMPTU PHOTO SESSION!

Posted by Lori~

I am always looking for ways to save money and one GREAT way to save is to ask a friend to take your photos!

And that’s what I did.  My girlfriend Holly is an awesome photographer and here is a sneak peak.


 

I am TOTALLY IN LOVE!
On a side-note, one of the BEST purchases we made soon after Mur-Man’s birth was a GOOD DSLR CAMERA!  And, I love my CANON REBEL!  IT IS AWESOME!

October 18, 2012

Whit's Tips: Cheap and Perfect French Manicure!



Posted by Ethne~

I always keep polish on my nails.  I just think it looks nice.  For how many zillion times I look down at my hands over the course of a day, I may as well appreciate what I see.

For a while I went to a salon to get French manicure gel polish put on.  The cost every 2-3 weeks started to add up, though, so I decided to go back to my own perfectly-acceptable polishing skills with the gallons of high quality polish I already own.  The caveat: I do not have mad skilz at doing my own French manicures.  So much so that I don’t even attempt it.

Till now.

For my birthday, Whit got me a kit of Elegant Touch French manicure tips.  These little geniuses look like press-on nails, but it is really just a press-on strip of white polish that is perfectly fitted to your nails, and comes in about 14 different sizes to fit just about everyone’s digits.


You select the tips to match each nail on your hand.


Trim and file your nails to a short squarish shape.  Buff your nail surface to remove any yellowing that may have occurred from any color polish you had on before.

Apply the included glue to the white tip, as directed, and immediately press the tip onto your nail, as directed.  Then clip the plastic part off, again as directed.  I’m not sure how it works, but when you clip the plastic off with the nail clipper, the white tip stays on just right, except the little center nub of the white, which you file down.

As instructed, file the white to match your natural nail.  If you do not do this (as I learned the hard way) the white will break off.  If you do file to match, it will last for well over a week.

Now paint one coat of the included base polish and two coats of the included top coat.  It says you can also paint a light pink polish in there too, but I don’t care for that look as much as the natural look, so I didn’t do that.


I did have to do a little maintenance the first time I wore this.  The sides wanted to come up a little from wear, so I added a little more glue and more top coat, and got a few more days out of the manicure.

The whole process took me about 30 minutes, plus drying time, which I’m liberal about from bad experiences in the past.

Friends, this kit cost about $15 and you should get 3 manicures out of it.  Even I can do that math - $5 per manicure, which is about a 5th of the cost, minimum, of a basic French manicure at a nail salon.  And the last time I got a basic French manicure (polish only) at a nail salon, it literally lasted 2 days.  True story.  And when I got the gel manicures, those lasted for 3 weeks between fills, but you could see grow-out, and the tips were hand-painted on, so they were not as straight and perfect as these tips are, and much thicker; not to mention those manicures cost $40 each time.  If you calculate it out, this manicure, with a little maintenance, lasted me a week and a half.  That means for $10, I could do 3 weeks worth of French manicure.

Awesome!


October 16, 2012

IT'S A CANDY-CORN HALLOWEEN!

Posted by Lori~

Two of my girlfriends (and WOM-MOM followers) and I are throwing a SPOOKTACULAR HALLOWEEN KID PARTY!

And, I took on the SWAG BAGS (AKA CANDY-CORN BAGS).

I found an awesome pattern here, and went to town.

The pattern actually called for wool felt, but I opted for regular felt. 

Super simple to make….I think they are awesome.  And the best part….it cost me about $1.00/bag!

 
 
 

October 14, 2012

Tooth Fairies for KD & Easy Mac!

Posted by Ethne~
 
I made tooth fairies for the girls for their birthday.  What prompted this was not my innate desire to make tooth fairies or celebrate their aging.  In fact, I’m afraid of their aging.  I’d rather they’d stop for a while and just be my sweet little girls and not lose their teeth and go through that gawky awkward stage.  [I do have hope, though, because my friend, KS’s girls pretty much skipped awkward and went straight to adorable, hipster (albeit sometimes sassy) tweenagers.]

KD: Possible loose tooth, Mommy.  Bottom left.  Me: I'll pass, thanks. 

But KD told me recently that her bottom front tooth is loose.  I didn’t check it to see because I’d rather not even believe that’s possible.  It’s not possible.  Just to verify my ignorance being truth, I asked my friend, SH, who has a daughter just a bit older than my girls, and she said that B lost her first tooth right around her 5th birthday.  What?!?  I’m sure she’s lying.  I still haven’t checked KD’s tooth.  I figure if the tooth is loose, there’s nothing I can do about it anyway.
 
But I am not a slacker Wom-Mom.  I know when those teeth actually do fall out, there won’t be loads of notice (a few days?  less than that?)  I need to have tooth fairies in the wings (haha), ready to hold teeth for exchanging into money.  [Shaun tried to say kids still get quarters for teeth and I reminded him that was 30 years ago and they probably get like $20 per tooth now.  He nearly had a stroke so I think we’ve compromised at $1 per tooth.  Maybe we’ll fork out 5 clams for a molar or something.]

Shaun surprisingly just rolled his eyes when I brought home these bat wings for Theodore for the vampire birthday party (seen here on my sister's cat Largie).  I thought they'd be a stroke 4 sho.  PS, Theodore has no teeth.

I’ve seen a ton of cute tooth pillows on Pinterest, and we’ve even done a tooth pillow here on the blog, but I modeled the girls’ fairies after the fairies Thrifty Nana made Whit and me when we were little girls.  Ours still exist, but I can’t find them since we moved, so I’ll post a picture when they are unboxed – someday.  I have a good memory, fortunately.

Many a photo was taken on the girls' birthday to get one where they were all looking.  Sometimes you take what you get.

Materials: you need about a fat quarter yard of the fabric of your choice.  This will be the fairy body/dress and arm.  A scrap of fabric for the money pocket. You need about a yard of ribbon; 6 inches of lace; and miscellaneous items: pieces of felt in white, “skin color” (don’t get me started on how hard it is to find this), blue & pink; black & pink puffy paint; “hair color” yarn (your choice of color); little flower for accent in hair; craft glue; matching thread; loose craft batting; and beads.
 
Pattern:  I made my own up from the memory of my fairy from childhood.  It’s not a skinny fairy, more like a stuffed pillow fairy.  I decided I wanted my fairies to be slightly bigger than my childhood one, because I had to make the pocket big enough to hold more than a quarter (right, Shaun?)  The size of the ‘U’ shaped pink fabric I cut out is roughly 4"x10".  Just guess.  I didn’t use a pattern.  For the fairy arm, it measures about 1"x3".  I cut out little feet and a hand from the tan felt, leaving the ‘wrist’ and ‘ankles’ a little extra long so they would have enough to sew into the seam with the dress and sleeve.


I cut out wings in a shape kind of like butterfly wings with one more lopsided than the other, and left an extra bit of length to sew into the seam of the dress.
 
I took the approximately 1 yard (it was a little less, but close) of ribbon and cut it in half.
 
NOTE: Some pieces I used my pinking shears (the arm and pocket) because those are tiny and I didn’t want to have to bother with turning over the teeny little edges and turning the sleeve right side out.  Since the fairies aren’t going to be extreme play items, I thought the 'pinked' edging would be just fine and likely won’t fray much, if at all.  Plus, it provides cute contrast.
 
I cut out the money pocket to be 2"x3".  3 sides are with pinking shear, the top is turned down and sewn to be a smooth pocket edge.
 
I cut the lace to be the width of the dress.
 
Before any other sewing can occur, you must sew the money pocket and lace onto the dress (the good side of one of the dress pieces).  This is now the front of the dress.  Lay the front piece on a flat surface and gently lay down one wing toward the ‘U’ curvature end of the dress, center one piece of ribbon, lay the other wing on top of it to match up, and pin in place.  The wings and length of ribbon will face INSIDE because once sewn, you turn the right sides out and they will pop out.  Now lay the other ribbon, long side facing in again, about the right end of the money pocket.  Pin in place.  Center the feet in place at the end of the fairy dress – feet facing inside again.


Gently lay the other dress piece, right side of the fabric facing in, with all of the edges matching up with the front piece of the dress.  Pin together.  I sewed all the way around, leaving an opening at the bottom of about 2” for turning right side out, and being careful not to sew over my pins which could break my needle.


Now turn it all right sides out.  Check to make sure all the feet and wings and ribbons got sewn in completely.  Re-sew anything in a little further if it didn’t get ‘caught’ the first time around.  Seam-ripping is a part of crafting, Friends, though luckily I only had to use my trusty rip-ster once this project (miracle!) 

Don't mind the stains on my ironing board.  They are from steam long ago; it's clean.

Make sure all of the edges are nicely turned out and then start stuffing.  I made the fairy nice and fluffy.  I thought of it as the fairy flying and her dress was billowing in the wind; or that, duh, she’s a tooth pillow, so she needed to be puffy.  (Thrifty Nana thought she was “fat”.  Actual quote.When the fairy is stuffed to your liking, sew the opening shut by hand.


I did a hidden stitch to sew the hole up.  Any old stitch will do; expert not required.

You can sew the arm together without turning the fabric if you cut it with a pinking shears like I did.  Just sew it, leaving the ‘cuff’ of the sleeve open, stuff it up, and then insert the hand and sew the ‘cuff’ shut.


The hardest part was the face.  I actually had to take a break from face-making to go to McDonald’s to get a large Diet Coke and a Large Unsweetened Iced Tea with No Ice.  It was serious.  I am not an artist, Friends.  Crafter: yes.  Artistic eye: yes.  Artistic ability: slim to none.  Ability to create faces: kindergarten.  You can just look and see what I did.
 
The hair I made loops around my fingers with yarn and then tied it in the center, perpendicular, like a bow.  This I glued on.
 
I sewed the arm and head on.  Since I have twins, I wanted the fairies to have personalization, so I made little necklaces with pink buttons and ‘k’ and ‘e’ beads.  Super cute.


KD's fairy hanging on her bedpost
KD added this fairy lantern that I got for her on Girls Trip '12 to the hand of the fairy on her other bedpost.  So adorable.
Easy Mac's fairy has already lost her head, so she has to be re-set with some Fabri-Tac

The girls think these are adorable.  They look a lot like the ones Thirfty Nana made for us when we were kids – except they’re bigger.  TN says that their heads are too small for their bodies.  I think she doesn’t like them very much cuz she's biased to her original version.  Well, TN, it's not 1983 anymore, kids get more than a quarter for teeth evidently.  And that’s mean, especially since she knows how hard making those faces was for me.  She just doesn’t even know anything.  I think they’re sweet.  Maybe they’ll end up bringing the girls $20 per tooth just to show TN how cool they really are.  I wonder what Shaun will say when I explain to him that the girls need megabucks from the tooth fairy because my mom said their fairy heads are too small?