RIP Billy Mays...

I am more upset that Billy Mays has left the building more than MJ! WHO, I MEAN WHO, is going to fill his shoes?? Maybe Vince.

This is what has been consuming my days, this and work:



The pool has been a blessing, Mason has fun with his friends and I am not constantly hearing how bored he is. The weather forecast is pretty gloomy this week, so hopefully we will be able to get some pool time in.

Some LOL's:




I attempted to re-create the delicious Panera salad that I love but is WAY too pricey. Here is what I came up with (not like it's hard to make or find a mysterious ingredient), but the dressing was just not the same. It was good, but not sweet like the dressing at Panera, that is the secret ingredient in this salad. I'll work with it, but it still was yummy!



This made a lot of salad, so I better eat it up soon so that it doesn't go bad.

Mason made the All-Star team, so we're really just prolonging this sport a few more weeks (uggg....). They sure played a heck of a game, though on Friday night!!

}Master Mason{

I picked Mason up from his first class of Karate on Friday afternoon and his exact words were, "That....was Awesome!!". I am so glad that he liked it! He was showing me some of the moves and terms that the instructor uses.

Right now Mason is playing Lego Star Wars on the Wii and does anyone know how annoying Chewbacca's voice is?? AHHHH, it's driving me crazy but apparently the game is really cool, so I guess I'll put up with it ;0)



I posted yesterday (or some other day) that I was going to make Mason a sign for his door. I used an old game board, like this one:



(I'm actually using this one for another project, but the one for Mason's sign was a similar one, just a tad bit smaller)

And made this:



I forgot to use the skull wallet that I had planned on, but I don't know if it would have worked anyway. These game boards were going to the Goodwill, but I decided to give them another life. I think Jason had that careers game since he was a kid, it was probably on the verge of being vintage!! I actually bought a game the other weekend called 'Numbreo' or something like that for .50 just to use the board and number pieces that are just like Scrabble tiles, except they are numbers. They are so easy to work with because they are really sturdy and brads go right through them.

I had this for lunch today (oh, and dinner yesterday):



OMG, this is THE best salad on Earth!! It's the Strawberry Poppyseed Salad from Panera. To-Die-For. They are getting a bit pricey I think, maybe I should cut down on the amount of times I go there, or just don't take Jason and Mason!! HaHa, that was a joke (sort of). I am just glad that there is a nice place like that to go where you don't feel overly stuffed after you eat (unless you eat a chocolate pastry!) and the portions are not ginormous.

I am dying to hear the big announcement on Monday night about Jon & Kate. I used to follow the show, got away from it and catch it every now and again. But since it has been in the tabloids left and right, I am excited to hear what's going on. Sad, I know. I watch too much reality TV.


I am off to go get some crafting done! Have a great Saturday night!!

~Yard Sale Friday's~

WHO?? Who has a yard sale on Friday?? I just associate yard sales with the weekends. However, with the possible 'weekend working' looming in my future, I am welcoming yard sales on Friday's. I went to a few here in town this morning and found some cool stuff. Some of it included a creepy pumpkin for Halloween, a 'Raptor' model for Mason to put together (didn't come with paint, so I'll pick some up at AC Moore or Micheal's), some brand new Bath&Body Works shower gel and lotion. And this:



This box is so awesome, it reminds me of magic or one of those side-show traveling carnivals! As I was taking pictures of it, guess who decided to help me??
Newsie Bear, of course!

Here, she is more than happy to pose for the camera, displaying the Halloween basket that I purchased for $1.



Slightly getting irritated at the non-stop gushing over how adorable she is (she's got quite the gut!!):



Oh, yeah, I know this look. Any cat lover will tell you that when your cat is done gracing you with her presence, she will let you know by the position of her ears! She's getting irritated with me!



Oh, enough of that.

This is a bad picture, but Mason wants me to make him a sign for his door that says 'Keep Out' with skulls and flames, you know, boy stuff. So, I found this wallet and thought I could cut it up and use it as part of the sign. We'll see how it works.




First day of Karate for Mason this morning/afternoon, so I hope it goes well!!

[Cookie Sheet Project & ShamWOW]

I finally broke down and got some ShamWow's. I didn't order online, I just got the mini pack at Walmart, I was careful not to be fooled by look-a-likes, as Vince clearly states in the commercial! I swear, when that commercial first came out, I could not get it out of my head. Who better to sell you towels than this guy?? He later moved on to the not so popular 'SlapChop', then he got charged with marijuana possession and I haven't seen him since. Oh well, he probably needed some sort of escape from reality, I mean his reality is being the ShamWow guy!!

Sandy, the owner of my FAV scrapbook store has put me in charge of coming up with class project ideas (no pressure). She had some small cookie sheets left over from the Cookie Sheet Calendar class that I made up for her, so she asked if I could do something using them. Here is what I came up with:



I thought it was cute, I hope it sells as a class. The 'grass' part is very time consuming, but other than that it came together pretty quickly. I distressed the outer edges with distress paint and then went over it with alcohol ink. The fence stuff I had bought at a yard sale for .10 cents!! The mirror was the most expensive part, around $3, but still the overall project is pretty cheap. I only used one piece of patterned paper. I clearly need to get better glass cleaner!!

Jason is getting ready to grill some fish (barf...) and I have to figure out what I am going to eat for dinner. Later!!

{Some Quick LOL Cat Pics}

These made me smile today:




Hopefully, I will be getting some walking done here soon at the track, if not I will do the Wii Active (I LOVE that thing!!). Then later, if the rain holds off, I'm thinking of taking Mason to the pool. Then he has a baseball game tonight. I need some 'ME' time ;0)

Busy Busy [Part Deux]

As I am typing this, we should be running out the door to yet another baseball game, but since I am the only one ready, I thought I would get a little bloggy blog done! Here is the little dog, her name is Shaggy, that I am watching:




Isn't she adorable???


I just got word that she will be staying with us until she gets spayed, which as far as I'm concerned, can be in 3 years!! No, just kidding, spay and neutering is top priority. BTW, June is National Adopt A Shelter Cat month and I should really get into the stats of how many cats and dogs are put to sleep each year because some people cannot be responsible pet owners. I will follow up with a blog about that soon. Remember: "Don't breed or buy while shelter dogs die".

Ok, I went to the wonderful grocery store, Wegmans, the other day and I was like a kid in a candy store (ok, I was like ME in a candy store!!) and I could have spent all day in there! Can you tell our grocery stores here are lame (haha, lame!!) But, I found these:



And I am so excited to try them!! I have no idea what they are going to taste like, but as soon as I get the time to sit down one night here and brew a pot of tea, I'll find out! It says on the package to toast them and then smother them in butter, peanut butter, jelly, honey or cheese spread. Yummy!!

Well, I hear everyone is now ready for the baseball game so that's all for now!!

Busy Busy

I've been so busy this past week.

Have you ever eaten something soooooo good that you didn't want it to end? Well, that was my dinner tonight. I bought a loaf of tomato-basil bread this morning at Panera and I made a grilled cheese with it tonight for dinner. Heavenly. Yum Yum. I ate it so slow, but I knew it had to come to an end. It was delicious!

Tonight, Ice Road Truckers is on. Then Army Wives. Can't wait!

I'm watching this little dog for Dogs Deserve Better and she is so cute! As soon as I get a picture, I'll post it. She is full grown and smaller than my cats! I only have her until Wednesday.

I got the Wii Active for my birthday and have really enjoyed using it. I can walk 8 miles outside and nothing compares to the pain that my legs are feeling after 20 lunges!! I really like how it keeps changing, it's not like the same exercises day after day.

I am working on a project in hopes of turning it into a class. Keeping my fingers crossed that it turns out how I am hoping. As soon as I am done, I'll post it!

Bye for now!

{Last Day Of 2nd Grade}

I cannot believe that Mason just completed his last day of 2nd grade and is now on his way to 3rd! He's getting soooooo big!

I was tipped off today about some things that are going on in Baltimore (crime wise) and I decided to search the internet for more info, this is what I found. OH MY. I think that I would have thought twice about visiting if I had heard this before. I know you can't live your life in fear, but these things were happening in broad daylight and to police officers themselves! SCARY. This really explains why, at every turn, we saw an officer. That was a comforting sight, but I didn't realize WHY we saw so many of them. I'm just glad that we are home safe and sound.

Here are a couple of teacher's gifts that I took into the classroom yesterday:

Some Starbucks coffee bottles:



A little picture that I made with a .50 yard sale frame!



I started up our Netflix account again because Army Wives season 3 starts on Sunday and we never got to see all of season 2, so we will be doing some serious Army Wives watching from now until then. I LOVE this show and I got Jason into it and he enjoys it as much as I do! I can't wait to see the new season, there is nothing on TV but reruns right now, so it will be nice to watch something new.

That's all I've got for now!

I'm Baaaaaack!!

Oh, where do I start!! We left for Baltimore on Friday afternoon and got there at around 4pm. We took a break when we got to the hotel (just a short one, there is no time for resting on vacation!!) then headed over to the Inner Harbor. That is where I saw the most beautiful sight: The Cheesecake Factory. The first time I went to TCF was in Columbus, there are a few here in Pa, but thankfully none close enough to eat at regularly! The food is o.k, but really, who goes there for the food?? I sure hope that I can continue to afford to feed this child of mine, this growing boy can eat and eat and eat! So after dinner we got some cheesecake to go. It started to pour, so we hung out in the HarborPlace mall for a bit and bought an umbrella. We headed over to the HardRock to get a t shirt and then to ESPN Zone for some game playing and headed back over to the hotel to relax and enjoy the cheesecake!!







On our way back over to the hotel, this popped up:



I can count on one hand how many times I've seen a rainbow.

So, Saturday morning is when we had tickets for the Aquarium, at 9:30 entry time. I figured we would get to sleep in a little to 7:30 (yes, that's sleeping in!!), but sure enough we were up a full hour before our 7:30 am wake up call!! Here are some highlights from the Aquarium:





This fish was so funny, when you put your finger up to the glass, it would follow it!! It was really cute!




Some Jellies:






I have to say, I was very disappointed in the Maryland Science Center. It was boring and just plain. Sure, there were a few things that were interesting, but not worth the $40 entry fee. AND, we didn't even get to go see the Dinosaur exhibit because you had to pay extra for that and it really wasn't worth it to us. I did get this picture of this flying dino, and was he ever creepy looking!



Then back to the hotel to enjoy some more cheesecake! One could not possibly eat an entire piece in one sitting, if you could, congrats, you deserve some sort of gold cheesecake medal!!

Here, Mason is trying to catch one of the 'city chickens'. He tried to feed them nacho cheese bugles, but apparently the Baltimore pigeons are picky eaters!



Wrapping things up here, one of my FAVORITE shows is Ace Of Cakes on the food network. I did some google mapping and discovered that the bakery is only about 4 miles from where we were staying, so on our way home we drove by. I was SO hoping that Duff would be outside!! Now, that would have been cool!



Out of our hotel window was one of many Legg Mason buildings. At night the lights were on and part of the letter "L" was burned out, so it spelled out 'I Egg Mason', it doesn't take much to amuse me, but I thought it was funny!!





I hope that I didn't put all of you to sleep with this looooong post!