Finished room :)

Well, we actually got done with the painting on Thursday, and finished putting in things in Friday. I haven't had much time, because our Niece and Nephew are staying for about a month. Anyways, here are the pictures. I am uploading this from my iPod, so I will have to just give the captions in order.

Picture one: the shelf in between the bunk beds, so that everyone has a place to put things like flashlights or iPods.

Picture two: our chalkboard closet doors. A long time ago, we painted the closet boards with chalkboard paint, so now we can doodle on them. Here we have Scooby doo and Peter rabbit, both of which I drew because my nephew likes Scooby doo, and my Niece likes Peter rabbit.

Picture three: Hammy taking a nap in one of the beds

Picture four: Bunk bed one.
Picture five: Bunk bed two.

Picture six: our everyone has a "wall pocket" to put things like books in.

Picture seven: view of the inside of the shelves from bunk bed two.
Picture eight: our two curtains that act as doors. I can't remember if we took the door down due to slamming, or it was broken, or both, but now we have curtains and a gate there.

Picture nine: chalk board closet door.

Picture ten: our cool curtain rods that open up. It a lot less hassle to open the rod than it is the try to scootch
The curtains over. And probably less risk of breaking down the Ross by accident.

Picture eleven: chalkboard closet doors.

Well, I think some of the pictures do a pretty good job of telling the colors. A light purple and a bubble gum pink.

Painting our bedroom!

Well, we are *finally* painting our bedroom! At the bottom is a picture of the before print. The white spot is were we had to fill in a small hole. It hasn't been re-painted for…… probably 8 years at least……Now we will have two walls pink, and two walls purple! Will post an after picture when it is done.

Maggie

I have been so distracted, I haven't posted about our New Dog, Maggie!
Here's Maggie's story.
My Mom and I were walking through Petsmart on a Saturday after noon in January. Apparently, That's the day when Petsmart has adoption, and a shelter brings out a bunch of dogs and some cats, and lets people look at them and adopt them. So, Ussually when they have those and we just happen to be there, we go and look at all the adorable little animals, With no  Real intention of actually adopting them. :) This Saturday was no different. So we were walking along. There were some cute dogs. Some really cute little Australian shepherds, but they did'nt seem to take any interest in us. A really cute little pup, I think he was a Chihuahua mix or something. And a Really Really Really cute little Beagle Dachshund Mix, Named, Little Maggie. There was just something about her that made me very interested in her. She seemed a little shy, but sweet and quiet. None of the other dogs really stood out to me as much as Maggie did. Me and My Mom both liked her alot. But, we eventually continued our shopping. I just couldn't stop thinking about that cute little dog! So you know how you kinda drop little hints like " Oh, that dog was just so cute." " Oh, that little Maggie seemed like such a good little dog"  While we were still in the store. But I think my Mom already kinda knew. So on the way home we talked about it, And then She discussed it with my Dad, And Later that day we were going back to petsmart to make sure she got along with everyone, Including our Yorkie, Fuzzworth. And it seemed like she did! So we Decided to foster her for a week, and if everything worked out, the Adoption would occur next Saturday! So we took little Maggie Home! During that week, we found out why she was so quiet. She was coughing, and just wanted to sleep on the couch. She ended up having Pneumonia and two different types of worms! Luckily, Since we were Fostering her at that time, The shelter Payed for the treatment! She started getting better, Little by Little, and that Saturday we Adopted her. Today, Maggie is Not the quiet dog we thought she was! She is very talkative. When you've got food, " bark! Bark Bark! " When she's gotta go, " Arooorooroo bark bark!" When your'e making her wait, " Arooo Whine" LOL She's so cute. And she's really sweet too. She is a Skittish around people she doesn't know, But once she gets used to them, she wants them to pet her,         " Bark! Bark! Arooorooroo Bark!" LOL

The funny thing is, the nickname we gave her is " Maggie Moo". I think she took it a little too seriously, Because sometimes, She eats grass! LOL
The above picture is from the other day, when we were chilling out together on the front swing after some Training time.
Like any dog, or Person, She's not perfect, But she is a Really Really Great dog to me :)

Happy memorial day!

Happy memorial day everyone! And a extra special thank you to all our service members, past, present and future. You put your lives on the line to protect your family, your community, your country. Some died fighting for us. Some are/were MIA. Some are/were POW. And still, people are fighting for us today. So here's just a little reminder, on this beautiful memorial day, we are having Grill-outs, Pools are opening up, We are having fun. But let's not forget the true meaning of Memorial day. To Remember our service members. Let's keep them all, Past, Present and Future, in our thoughts, our hearts and most especially in our prayers.

Thank you to all our service members! Past, present and future! Happy memorial day!

Animal poster

Hi everyone! Today, when trying to organize some stuff, I ran across an old match game from a nature magazine. A little idea sparked. So I painted a cartoon-ish tree, and cut some of the animals out of the cards (along with a few from an old trail map) Stuck the animals to the tree and surrounding area, and then gave them some speech bubbles, and something to say. so here it is, along with a few close- ups

one of my favorites in the picture is the female cardinal  saying "Hey hun, could ya bring home dinner?" and then the male cardinal (picking berries) says "Sure hun" LOL i just thought it was kind of funny for some reason. . . 

"Come on dear! it's time for dinner!"  if you look of the other side of the tree there is a fawn saying "OK!" ( yes i know, this is a male deer. )

"IM STARVING!" "OH! I AM FAMISHED!" " HURRY! WE'RE STARVING!" "Hold on darlings!"

"Who woke me up?" "peck peck peck peck peck peck Oh, Sorry sir!"

                          

Printed Nails!

So, I decided to try something new with my nails :)

I saw a picture of something my friend had done with her nails, where she had transferred magazine print to her nails! Here is her tutorial  http://whimsyhive.blogspot.com/2011/10/how-to-do-magazine-nail-art.html

So, instead of print, I decided to do Flowers! :) The result was not exactly what I expected, but I think they turned out pretty good.

   So, here is what you need.

1.) A white, or light colored nail polish (for the base coat.)

NOTE: the color of the base coat will affect the color of the flowers. I used the pink sparkly nail polish shown above, and my blue flowers (also shown above) are now a lovely shade of purple (I expected it to turn purplish.) So, if you use, say, a green base coat, and red flowers, the result could be brownish flowers. I'm not sure. ( mixing all three primary colors usually results in brown or black. Since red is a primary, and green is a mixture of yellow and blue which are primary colors, it could turn out not what you were wanting.)

2.) Flowers, cut out from a magazine.

I used a blue rose of Sharon, cut out from an old "Michigan bulb co." magazine.

3.) Rubbing Alcohol (you will need the cap too.)

4.) Clear top coat 

In the picture, it looks hot pinkish. The bottle is tinted pink, so that's why.

5.) A hard surface, like a bathroom counter (what I used )

6.) Something absorbent like a papertowel, napkin or toilet paper.

so here we go.

Step 1

apply base coat and wait for it to COMPLETELY DRY!

Step 2

Pour the rubbing alcohol into the cap, and place on a paper towel, napkin, or toilet paper.

Step 3

Dip your finger into the rubbing alcohol. (nail side down)

Step 3

quickly place one of the cutouts on you nail, print side down. Press firmly and hold for about 30 seconds. 

Step 4

gently peel off the cut out. 

Step 5

repeat steps 1-4 with your other fingers

(picture before top coat)

Step 6

GENTLY apply first top coat.

if you don't do it gently, The ink might start coming off! ( I did it too fast the first time, and now that finger's picture looks kind of faded to me. It also looked like there was a purple tint to the brush, so i think it may have come off a bit.)

Step 7

apply one or two more top coats, just to be on the safe side ;)

DONE!

Lenten Pretzels

Today I made my very first batch of homemade pretzels! I needed to bring a snack for my American Heritage Girls unit, so since it is Lent, I decided to make pretzels, which are a traditional Lenten food. I used this recipe http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Soft-Pretzels-II/Detail.aspx

I also included a little bit of information on how pretzels became, and how the name originated. I got the information here http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/religion/re0535.html

Here are a few pictures :)

Altoilds catapult!

Today I made an Altoids catapult using these awesome instructions! http://craziestgadgets.com/2009/07/13/altoids-tin-catapult-curiously-childlike/
Click on the little thing that says "Instructibles" at the end of the little description thing. It takes through step by step instructions on how to make it. I used a peppermint altoids tin, while the instructions used an altoids gum tin. I also used a half teaspoon, where as the instructions seemed to use a teaspoon.

The range isn't perfect. I think I can only get it to go maybe five feet, but that's not bad considering it's made of a few simple things that are probably already lying around your house. Just make sure you wind the rubber band up real good.

Anyways, this little bugger can shot any thing from marbles, to hairclips, to dog treats! (yes I tried that. That's what happens when you are sick and can't really do any other fun things. LOL)
And, if you take the little spoon out of the holder and place the handle part under the holder, (or push it real far in the holder) you can close it up and voila! You have a mini catapult disguised as some altoids! There is even some room for small ammo to hide in there too!

Appreciation

If it weren't for the Rain, the Sun would not be special.
If it weren't for the Noise, the Silence would be loud.
If it weren't for the loneliness, Friends would not be appreciated.
If it weren't for the tension, Peace would not be so refreshing.
If it weren't for the cold, what would be so great about warm? If it weren't for the sadness, why would happiness have a name? If it were not for the clouds, there would never be a rainbow.

Happy valentines day!

Happy valentines day! We were thinking about going to Ihop today for pancakes, but sadly, some of us are sick today :( so Ihop came to us! Well, not really. but Heart pancakes, homemade pink whipcream and maple syrup is pretty close!