"...a whole slew of Pinterest Projects..."

November was a flurry of activity. Suddenly December is upon me and my little boy is one year old. I can't believe it.

Pinterest came in handy for his birthday party. Oh boy, did it ever! I started Bran's first birthday board months and months ago. What started out as a sock monkey theme somehow evolved into a circus theme. The entire birthday party was a whole slew of Pinterest Projects and this is what it looked like in the end...

We did a hot dog bar with tons of toppings.

• The animal cutouts came from Hostess With the Mostess - absolutely adorable! 

• The vintage-looking popcorn bags came from Hey Yo-Yo on etsy. 

• The blue and white striped paper straws came from Amazon, watch the price, though, it fluctuates.

• I made the balloon bunting as shown on Design Mom with the help of some lung power from PB and his dad.

Goodies.

• The red harlequin cupcake papers also came from Hey Yo-Yo - Super-fast shipping, by the way.

• The cupcakes are chocolate and topped with funnel cake. I attempted little funnel cakes as seen on Bake It in a Cake, but my batter fell apart the second it hit the hot oil so I stuck the crumbles on the cupcakes all artsy and whatnot. 

• The little elephants belonged to my grandmother.

The Smash Cake.

• The smash cake was inspired by TomKat Studio. My printer was on the fritz so I didn't print her bunting, and had to make my own, but the idea is there.

• The cake itself was baked in a large Rotel can. I used the rainbow cake shown on Little Hero Capes as inspiration.

It was a huge hit!

• I made Branflake's bib using fabric purchased from liveabroad on ebay. 

We also did a photo booth.

• Some of the props were free-handed by yours truly, others were printed from Catch My Party. The old photo look is just an effect on photobucket.

• I adored this sign to direct our guests to the photo booth, but it's one of those "Uploaded by User" links that never lead you to anything so, thanks to The Graphics Fairy and google, I found a hand, lips, and mustache and was able to make my own and will share it here for anyone else that wants it.

"... a game of catch-up..."

I'm going to play a game of catch-up with photos....

The hummingbirds really loved our
Rose of Sharon while it was in bloom.

Bran and I woke up super early (okay, 6:30 a.m.) to see the
16th Annual Arkansas Hot Air Balloon State Championship. 

Someone released a helium balloon next to this hot air balloon.
It's that tiiiiiiiny purple speck on the right.

So played out, but I love sun glare photos.

Look Up.

First Haircut.

Playing with leaves in the backyard.

Being all fierce and stuff.

I've taken a liking to decorative cabbage and kale.

Spaghetti Wednesdays...

Bran meets a kid at the fair.

Enjoying the circus show.

I happened across this ginormous praying mantis while shopping for mums.

I tried to make a Clementine Candle as seen on Pinterest.
The top part burned and smelled horrible, but it was still pretty without it.

Branflake doesn't like marshmallows.

We woke up to this in our backyard one sunny 
Saturday morning (not the same weekend as 
the State Championship above).

Branflake got a giant penguin from his great-grandfather who came to visit.

My Pappy and my son.

Playing with pumpkins.

Enjoying the fall scenery at Big Cedar Lodge.

I brought some of the outdoors into my dining room.

We went to a corn maze with my folks.

My little oinker.

Playing in the corn box.

We met a pony.

Hello!

A little bit of blue steel for the ladies.

It started getting creepy around dusk.

Us.

Hi, again.

Our elm burst into color overnight.

Branflake ate a dandelion.

And the last tomato of the season
(and one of the only ones from my pitiful garden).

I have no idea what this thing is.

I worked hard to make that stupid hat
and he didn't even want to wear it.

Little aviator.

Bran and daddy.

Flying!

P.B. predictably went with a Star Wars reference. I gave my pumpkin a mask.

We also painted the living room (finally) and the front door, but I don't have pictures yet. Anyway, that's as up-to-date as I'm going to get for now.

Pinterest Project

This super-cheap project was created in an afternoon between making kabobs and chasing Branflake.

"Eat" Curtain

There really is nothing to this project it you can draw at least a little bit. 

I used some burlap leftover from my Laundry sign knock-off. It was a little wrinkly because I just threw it into my scrap bin without folding it up nice and neat. An iron corrected that quickly enough.

My sewing machine is still on the fritz and I don't have the patience to deal with it right now so I opted to hot glue my bottom seam and curtain rod pocket. I didn't bother with side seams.

Then I just free-handed the lettering, spoon, and fork with a sharpie. I didn't press down hard; just used gentle strokes until I'd accomplished the look I was going for.

Super easy. Super Cheap.

Pinterest Project

This one is easy-peasy.

Burlap Laundry Sign

I didn't have freezer paper and I'd be damned if I was going to make a run to the Wal*Mart with the baby in tow, deal with the idiots that I inevitably run into whilst shopping, and then have to stand in a ridiculous line while the only register out of fifty slowly rings up the line of people ahead of me. All for freezer paper. Nope. Not I.

So I pulled out my trusty LocTite spray adhesive and applied a coat to an 8 1/2 X 11 inch piece of printer paper, laid it on my burlap, and cut the fabric down to size.

I opened up Word and because I'm a terrible copy cat and didn't have the patience to look up my own definition of "laundry" I copied Maryann's definition and found a font that I liked (Poor Richard). Once I got everything sized up the way I wanted I hit "Print" on our HP Photosmart e-All-in-One Printer - D110a.

Paper Jam.

So I started fiddling with the printer settings and changed them so the printer thought it would be printing on photo paper instead of regular printer paper (did I say "printer" enough?). I hit "print."

We're in business. And it looks great.

I took the glass and matte out of an old picture frame and laid the whole thing on the matte to see how it would look.  The color of the backing paper was just a fluke (I'd pulled the paper from my scrap pile in case this was a disaster), and I happened to like it so I kept it, but it would have easily peeled off without any mess if I hadn't liked it.

I glued the edges down on top of the matte. The matte didn't have the depth for the nail head pins so I cut the points off with wire cutters, leaving just the nail head and hot glued them to the corners. I then made a couple of flowers by cutting circles of scrap burlap, stacking them and embellishing with buttons before also hot gluing them to the piece. Put it all back into the frame, sans the glass, and that's it.

I turned my Word document into a jpg so I could share it here:

This was a fun, easy project and I'll probably be doing some more burlap printing in the future.

"...still panting through Level 2..."

Day 23. I failed to do the DVD yesterday. I did my 5K training in the morning, but after that the day got away from me. Between running errands, cleaning the house for guests, and keeping a little grumpasauraus rex entertained, it just didn't happen.

And no, I did not sit on the computer for hours and not accomplish anything. I didn't even touch the thing until late in the afternoon and missed a response to an ad I posted on craigslist and therefore missed a sale. Pretty frustrating.

I'm getting back onto it today and will probably do something extra to try to make up for yesterday. I'm pretty mad at myself for not getting to it yesterday, but it is what it is and life will go on.

I thought that by Day 21 I would have moved on to Level 3, but I'm still panting through Level 2 at this point. It's hard! I can't quite keep up yet so I'm not moving on yet.

The great thing is that all this exercising is paying off. I'm down 11 pounds and have lost three inches in my waist. My tummy is flatter, still not great, but better than it's been in a very, very long time. At this point, I'd say I'm about to where I was when I got pregnant. Now it's just a matter of pushing to get to where I was when I met PB. That's the ultimate goal.

"I hate planking."

Day Thirteen. Lucky Thirteen. I am officially on Level Two of my 30 Day Shred and I feel like I'm starting from the beginning. This level has brought with it its own set of challenges.

Good God, does Level Two have a lot of moves that involve The Plank. Ugh. I hate planking. It makes my shoulders burn. But I guess that's the point, isn't it?

The first day was absolute hell. The second day was still pretty hellish. Today was still rough. I wouldn't say easier, just less hard.

I'm not seeing a huge drop in weight like I did during my first week, but I am most definitely noticing how my clothes fit. My energy level has improved greatly. Even my skin has gotten better. And I might be a little bit crazy, but I think my hair is a little shinier and healthier.

I'm still not taking anything; don't really have a lot of desire to. I am, however going to talk to the doctor about weaning at Branflake's next appointment (did I mention I have a nine-month-old now? WOW!). We only nurse regularly in the mornings now, only occasionally in the afternoon or evening. He has no interest. I try, believe me; I still get engorged and have to pump, which is good for my freezer stash at any rate.

I've done two days of 5K training so far. Twenty-five minutes of walking for four minutes, jogging for one. I'm breaking it up into every other day, as the program suggested. The exercise isn't so bad, it's the getting up at 5:30 in the morning that kills me. It's the only time I can go for a run without the stroller because PB hasn't left for work yet and we are still doing our after-dinner neighborhood walks together. It's just a habit I'm going to have to make, I guess.

"...how dare we ask him to do his job..."

I'd like to take a moment to bitch about our refrigerator.

We purchased our Whirlpool 26 cubic foot side-by-side refrigerator the evening we closed on the Bird House. So...June 17. It was delivered on June 19. On June 20 I was enjoying my first stainless steel refrigerator and contemplating which Whirlpool appliance I would buy next (dishwasher or stove?).

Fast forward to July 29. I put a bunch of Coors Lights, you know, the ones with the mountains that turn blue when they're cold, into the fridge for a group of friends that were coming over that evening for some beer and wings (this was before I started my diet so shush). A few hours later, the mountains still weren't blue. 

hmmmmm

I'd been in and out of the fridge a lot that day, getting ready for the gathering, maybe that's it. So I let it be.

By the next weekend, after being very meticulous about keeping the fridge door closed and turning the temperature as low as it would go, PB and I decided that there was something wrong with the fridge.  Things were cool, just not cold. We called Whirlpool on a Saturday. Their offices were closed. Obviously, we're not getting any help from the manufacturer. 

We called the Hollister, MO Lowe's where we purchased the refrigerator.

We were transferred to appliances where "Brian," his voice dripping with attitude for having bothered him, gave us a phone number, not telling us who we were calling. We called; it was Lowe's corporate. We explained the problem, the girl on the phone said she could get a technician to us in three days, but we would have to have our receipt. We just moved into the house, with an infant, that receipt was long gone. She couldn't pull it in her system and told us to call the store back.

We called the store again and got Brian, again. This guy was a jerk. Plain and simple. His tone of voice was just plain nasty and he got so huffy when we asked him to pull the receipt.  I mean, how dare we ask him to do his job, right? There was also some huge debate about the model number versus the item number and he can't look things up without one or the other or both. I don't know and I don't think he did either. I cannot even begin to describe how incensed I was by the end of that phone call. It would just be a long string of profanity that isn't safe for even the internet. He did eventually find the receipt and faxed it to PB's office. It was tiny and unreadable, but it would have to do.

Meanwhile, our food was rotting and spoiling in the fridge that wasn't even all that cool anymore, much less cold. 

When the technician showed up he determined that the valve that allows cold air into the fridge from the freezer had frozen shut from the condensation that forms when the fridge door is open. So, apparently, you can't open your fucking refrigerator door for fear of condensation build-up. What the fuck? The technician said he would have to order a new part and it would be there by Friday. He took the broken part and said the fridge would get as cold as the freezer.

Friday is here; we had to call the technician, who said he didn't get the part and didn't know when he would get it. I wasn't satisfied with that answer and had PB call him back. This time we're being told that it is a "specialty part" and they won't get it for another two weeks. So we have a fridge full of frozen, spoiled, rotten food and cannot use our refrigerator for the next two weeks on top of the week we've already waited.

Sure, the fridge is cool now (frozen, actually), but we still can't use it for things like milk, eggs (have you ever frozen an egg and then cracked it open? It's pretty nasty), lettuce; all things that we usually consume a lot of in our home, but need a refrigerator to keep from spoiling. Oh, we also can't use the water dispenser because it, too, is frozen.

Now we're battling with Lowe's to get the entire fridge replaced. I am not living two more weeks without a refrigerator.

As of now, I'm pretty sure I'm never buying another Whirlpool appliance (fuck having matching appliances, right?) and when I do replace our dishwasher and stove, it's very unlikely to be through Lowe's.

What a fucking clusterfuck.