sooooo beautiful

Isn't this the most beautiful piece of furniture ever!?! My jaw dropped when I saw it in the catalog... so gorgeous that it forced me out of my temporary blog moratorium! The armoire is only $3000 (ha ha).... do you think the Easter bunny could carry it and squeeze it into a basket for me?

I'll be back in a few days... I'm currently working on four sets of cards for card group and various design projects for the kid's school variety show... among many other things. Oi! Maybe I'll spontaneously combust... so many things to do... so many things in my head...

PS This picture doesn't quite do it justice... go to the website and look at it in the room view (in zoom/additional views). Sorry, couldn't link to that picture.

more sweet little birdies

Almost forgot about these cuties that I saw a while back... so cute on an end table, next to a lamp and a plant or on top of a stack of books...

pretty...

Isn't this sweet... a pretty little spot to hang your keys.
Not too many keys or not so pretty anymore. Maybe no keys... I do love bird motifs.

cute, practical & cheap... at a store near you

Remember these great little cups? Well, I was at Target the other night and they have some very similar.

They have a set of six in bright colors for $1.99. Can't beat that... only .40 more than Ikea's set. Works for me! They also have the coordinating plates, bowls, etc....just like Ikea. Check it out... if you don't have an Ikea near you, hopefully you have a Target! Can't imagine life without Target...

PS How cute would these be as party favors for the toddler set? A whole place setting (cup, bowl, plate, utensils) at Ikea only comes to $1.00 for each child! $6.00 total on cute, usable favors for six kids... SUPER! You could even mix up all the colors so each child gets one item in each color... FUN! Plan the whole party around this color scheme, balloons, invitations... I could go on and on...

fun learning

Have you heard of these? We love learning mixed with fun... who doesn't? We bought the first set of these when Cha-Cha was a baby after a friend enthusiastically recommended them.

Now, we enthusiastically recommend them! Fun, catchy songs accompany basic American Sign Language lessons. My kids all really enjoy them, they span the toddler through early grade school ages very nicely.

It was wonderful when Cha-Cha (now 3 years) was a tiny toddler and could tell us when she wanted "more" or was "full." "Crackers," "milk," "ice cream," the list goes on... she could communicate simply with us before she could talk.

The older kids really get a kick out of us testing how many words they can sign. It is surprising how many they can... my husband and I regularly marvel over how many words we know, as well! It's kind of nice to be able to communicate (very basically) across a room or quietly in church. The alphabet volume number 5 is a must-have!

We have volumes 1 through 6 and now I'm looking at getting the newer volumes 7 through 9. Cha-Cha is asking to watch volume 3 right now... pizza, cheese, candy...definitely a favorite!

Check them out here.

PS The story behind the company is very inspirational. Her second daughter, Lucy's, story is especially beautiful.

PPS Signing Time can also be found on PBS now... check here to see if your station carries it!

and more bunnies...

Okay, this will be it for a while. I told you that I love bunnies and the Easter season... kid in a candy store...

These are from Gump's. The set is rather pricey ($85 each piece-ouch) but so unusual. They're solid pewter from Germany and definitely heirloom material. I think they'd be sweet on a mantel with several little pots of tulips flanking them or in a special spot on an Easter buffet.

more bunnies...

Seeing lots of cute bunny dishtowels this year...

This fun one is from Anthropologie, classic and cute...

These pretty ones are from Williams-Sonoma, love the sweet colors...

















These cute ones are from Sur La Table and they even come with the cookie cutter...

serial cereal eater

What is it with the male of the species and cold cereal?

My son's first snack, breakfast, and impromptu meal of choice is cold cereal. Cheerios, Shredded Wheat, Life, Kashi... you name it, if he's hungry, he's got it ... with or without milk. Hence the cereal crumbs in my couch cushions.

Then there's my brother who, as a teenager, perpetually had a bowl of cereal at any given time throughout the day. He's now grown and gone but I'm sure if I asked his wife she would tell me that the habit has carried on.

My husband is not as much of a cereal abuser, but does enjoy a bowl quite a bit more often than I do.

Remember Seinfeld and his cereal collection? Wasn't he often eating a bowl at odd times?

Maybe I should pick up this habit, as I'm sure it's healthier than the chocolate I go looking for in hungry moments.

Do the men/boys in your life exhibit this penchant for cold cereal? Just curious...

tote bags

At this point in my life it seems that I never leave the house without a lot of "schtuff." This is why I'm always attracted to tote bags. Here are some great ones that I've seen recently...


This one looks like it would be perfect for library books, movies to return, paperwork...











Chintz Plastic Tote Bag $6.95 at Fishs Eddy


I want this one for carrying my cards to card group, mail to the post office or snacks to the park...
















DB Lunch Bag $30.00 at Dooney and Bourke


We can't live without these classics in assorted sizes for pool stuff, changes of clothes at Grandma's, snow clothes for school, toys and snacks on road trips...

I've got to pick up some new ones and I'm loving the new colors and the option of having long straps or short... handy!














Boat and Tote Bags $26.-$39. at LL Bean

bunnies...bunnies...bunnies

I love bunnies, I collect bunnies... Easter is so fun for me because there is an abundance of great bunny things! Check out this cute toile bunny pitcher at Stonewall Kitchen.

more easter bunny shopping...

Got this fun coin trick and a really cool magnifying glass (sorry, no pic) for The Boy's Easter basket. He loves gadgets, so I think he'll enjoy these.

the easter bunny's been shopping

Just bought these two sweet little bracelets for Princess and Cha-Cha's Easter baskets. Cotton Candy and Pink Bubblegum from MyTinyBaubles at Etsy. Now they're mine, but she's got lots of other cute stuff. I was eyeing this one, too...














Spring Flowers - Wildflowers Bracelet by MyTinyBaubles

uh oh!

Oops! Polished off one of these last night (yum). I guess this mommy doesn't deserve Easter presents! So much for getting a head start on the kid's Easter baskets. Let's see if the other two bunnies make it through the weekend...

I went to the gym this morning and worked out with the trainer for half an hour and did a half hour of cardio, is that restitution enough? Probably not since I'm aching to take a little nap now! Bad... bad... bad!

The kids had a surprise snow day today (unbelievable!) and the morning was exhausting dragging the three of them around in the lousy weather! The rest of the day's activities have been cancelled. Snuggling on the couch with the kids while they watch a movie and the snow covers the ground outside just sounds too good right now... now to find a movie that they'll all watch...

my little chickees

Just bought three of these little chicks in the Smith & Hawken section at Target. So cute. I bought them all in yellow, in three different poses (not shown on the website), to represent my three little chickees. Aww, sweet... We'll put them on the mantel for Easter... probably with some wooden eggs and such.

just precious

How sweet is this baby? I just love the fuzzy hair on this tiny sculpture. I came across it in an email a year or so ago and still think it is just the sweetest thing.

An artist named Camille Allen sculpts these adorable miniatures out of polymer clay. I'm not sure exactly what I would do with one but they are so fun to look at!

Here's a new one that I just saw that is absolutely precious! Go here to see more!

goodbye snow...

Today was sunny and warm, unlike the day this picture was taken a couple of weeks ago. Hopefully we're done with the snow and winter. We're ready for spring. So, although it was fun building snowmen, sledding, and watching the snowflakes fall,... bring on the sunshine, the green grass and the mud puddles!

pretty storage

I just love pretty little boxes for sticking all that unsightly, smallish clutter in. Matches for candles, extra keys, extra safety covers for outlets, screws that you're afraid to get rid of because you don't know what they came from... you know, all that funky miscellaneous stuff.

These beehive boxes are so different and charming... they'd be great on a mantel or a bookshelf or a nightstand...

Check out Ballard Designs for these and other fabulous things like the Hanging Label Holders. How neat would these be to label pretty baskets or bins?

brighten your day

Check out this cute planner. You can't get much more cheerful than this! It's bright and happy, even when you're not... is that a good thing? Inside it's a weekly setup with eight days (the 8th day being someday) per page. Clever! Get it at the Fred Flare website. While you're there check out some of their other fun and funky stuff to perk up your day... bacon bandaids, anyone?

free coloring pages

Princess LOVES to color. She is endlessly coloring and asking for more to color. The internet is wonderful for this. We often just google the character of the moment's name and the words "coloring pages" (ie. strawberry shortcake "coloring pages") and print out the page of choice.

One site that I love for beautiful coloring pages is Jan Brett's website. She is an incredible illustrator and there are some really intricate and lovely pictures for coloring. She also has some new mural pieces to color. Fun and free! Happy coloring!!

PS There are also lots of cute educational activities and printables on her site. Check it out.

PPS Jmomm, if you're out there... she loves hedgehogs almost as much as you do! There is a super cute "I love my Dad" coloring page... perfect for your boys!

cute, practical and cheap...

Who could ask for anything more?







We love these cups from Ikea. They're great for snacks like cheerios or grapes and, of course, for beverages. We love the bright colors and they're perfect when little friends come over... everyone can have their own color! $1.50 for six cups... what more can I say?

UPDATE HERE...

wow!

A friend of mine sent this to me. Check it out... it's eye-opening!

card group

Hello, my name is "Laina Kay" and I'm a paper addict. I love paper and, of course, paper crafts (although I don't scrapbook, oddly enough)! A few years ago some friends and I started a "card group" as an outlet for our paper crafting addiction. There are ten of us and we meet once a month and each bring two handmade cards for each person. It's a fun chance to get together and socialize and none of us will ever need to buy a card at Hallmark again! Every month I come home with some seriously fabulous cards. It's fun to see what everyone does, I wish I could show them all to you!

Anyway, these are two of the cards that I made for the last exchange. The first one is a Valentine card. I sewed several hearts onto a coral-pink long pocket card. I printed "Happy Valentine's Day" in the same colors as the hearts onto a long piece of cardstock that slides into the pocket and finished it all off with a turquoise envelope. Here it is...

The second one is a blank pocket card. I made a pocket card out of some really cute, dual-sided cardstock from Chatterbox. I sewed the side edges and cut the front flap with scalloped scissors. For the insert I punched several coordinating flowers out of cardstock and wired beads to their centers, then I attached them to the insert and doodled a background to coordinate with the pocket paper. Here are two shots of the card...



















































Wow, it's harder than I thought to describe these things succinctly... and bear with me while I try to figure out how to photograph them. I'll try to put my cards on the blog every month so maybe I'll get better at showing them to you!


PS You can click on the pictures to view a larger image.

still hanging out... some excuses for my absence

Sorry, I haven't posted in a couple of days. Actually I did post yesterday but took it back because I had included a link that I couldn't control as much as I would have liked. Me, a control freak? Hmmm...

Also, my monitor died on Saturday. So random. Two weeks before the warranty was up! Weird! Anyway, a new one is on it's way, but in the meantime we've hooked up a 10 year old 13" monitor that the kids had been playing with in the garage. Did we really ever use these things? Sooooo tiny. I have to squint and hunch over the keyboard to see the text. Not fun!

Also, I haven't figured out how to download the pictures from my new camera yet, so I've been waiting to have some of those pictures to post. I should be figuring out how to do that right now, instead of listing excuses...

Soon...

helloooooooo...

Anybody out there? Just curious. If you're reading this blog, delurk and say 'hello' in the comments box. I'd like to see how the comments work and I'd love to hear from you!!

PS I changed my settings so that commenting will be easier. Now I just have to actually tell more than two people that this blog exists,hmmm...

hilarious and, sadly,... true

I saw this shirt at Tara Whitney's blog and it is just too funny! Wouldn't it be nice if we could have someone else take care of our issues?...

perfect for the gym and... yum!

Philosophy makes a neat 3-in-1 shampoo, bodywash, bubble bath combination. Look at this set of six in the little bottles... perfect for the gym and look at the flavors... mmm! Do Mommies deserve Easter gifts?...

ahhh... clean

In my efforts to maintain some semblance of clean, without killing myself in the process, I came across Method Daily Shower Spray. Loving it! Spray it on the walls and shower curtain daily after the last person takes a shower and voila, a clean tub for weeks! Seriously! I didn't clean my tub for about a month (throughout the pre, post Christmas period) and, even right before I did, the tub still looked spotless.

As a bonus, this stuff is totally safe around the tots! The president of the company even drank a shot of it for demonstration purposes! No worries about evil chemical residues when the kids take a bath. Two worries taken care of in one product! Now I just need a product like this for the kitchen floor, oh, and the toilets, and the....

PS This product only comes in ylang-ylang scent... not my favorite. I did write to the company and request other scents... we'll see! Still totally worth it!

PPS Love their grapefruit scented all-purpose cleaner, too! Once again... non-toxic, yeah!

PPPS Target sells the refill for the shower spray, it fills the bottle twice and it's only $4.99!