My Muno

Buttahz is one of my besties from waaay back in the day.
Back when Nirvana was the shit.
Back when Doc Martens were on everyones feet.
Back when everyone dressed for raves.
I am sooo glad that we still keep in touch after all these years.
I made a Muno softie for her most adorablest son, Marz, today but as soon as L.J saw it, she had to have it.

I figured she would play with it for a few minutes and then move on to the next thing like she does with her other toys, but that didn't happen.
She kept Muno by her side for almost the entire day.

She even walked a few steps to get him.

I knew, then, that Muno wasn't going to be shipped off to his new home with Marz.
Muno now has sentimental value.
I'm sorry, Marz! I'll send you something even better than Muno. And I promise it won't have a drop of L.J drool on it!

Before/After

Our bedroom was becoming a junk room/catch all.
And that picture was taken after I edited all the junk down to what you see.
So not inspiring.
I can't believe I was letting our bedroom become a scene from 'Hoarders'.
Bad. Very bad.
I decided to reclaim our space and tidy it up.
The first thing I did was price baskets that fit the bookcase in our room.
Ridiculous.
$20 a basket x 8.
Ya, right.
Too rich for my blood.
So, I went into cheap mode and decided to make my own.
I found the perfect sized shipping boxes at Staples for $2 and some cents a box.
Yup, shipping boxes.
I used a box cutter to cut the top flaps off

and then headed outside to spray paint the boxes white.

Once they were dry, I glued scrapbook paper to the front of the box and just to make sure L.J wouldn't rip the paper to shreds, I Mod Podged it.

It came out so much better than I imagined and now I can really clutter it up and no one will be able to see it!
Another great thing about these "baskets" is that it makes for less dust - and dusting.
I am now inspired to redo the rest of the bedroom.
Love it!

Farmville

Happy Easter!
We spent Easter with Mr. A's family on the chicken farm.
Thanks to Delilah, we were able to bring the wagon and cart L.J around on the farm.

And L.J loved it!
Mr. A's oldest brother is a chicken farmer and today we got to meet the new animal additions.
There were 3 pygmy goats (did you know their pupils were rectangular?) and a calf in one pen.

And more calves and cows and a super cute donkey in another.
L.J liked watching Auntie Aung feed the cows and goats apples.

Notice I didn't do any of the feeding.
I'm just not an outdoorsy, farm kinda girl.
But I do love going there.
I always have fun with The Aung.
We were supposed to decorate eggs together, but she ended up doing the majority of them.

I just left a big mess for her to clean up.
And a green ring on her table.
Oopsie.
Sorry, Aung!

We didn't do an egg hunt (I know, I'm such a slacker mom) but L.J had just as much fun playing with those eggs as she would have finding them.
Oh, and you can find that cute owl egg cosy tutorial here.
L.J and TLH racked up this Easter.
Auntie B-rit and Uncle C-Bonez brought the kiddies awesome Easter baskets.

And not to mention the early Easter baskets they both got from G.G. and Popi.
The Easter Bunny got in on some of the action also.
(TLH still believes in the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus.)
L.J got a peek-a-boo toy

and TLH got an Easy Stitcher sewing machine.

I hope everyone enjoyed their Easter as much as we did.
And I'll be sure to add 'egg hunting' on the agenda next year!

Welcome Home

Mr. A comes home tonight! I've noticed that my bed is sooo much colder when he's not in it with me. I even had to turn the heat up the other night. I can't sleep without him so I my solution was to stay up way past my bedtime until my eyes were droopy just so I wouldn't lay there missing him. Last night I stayed up making a "bumper" for the brick hearth to baby proof it a bit. It turned out to be just a little too ambitious for me. After looking for a way to baby proof the hearth I found a picture that someone took of their hearth with a crib bumper around it. I read the directions but I took it a step further. I thought I would be able to make my own crib bumper. I needed Mr. A there to tell me to come back down to earth. The only "fun" part of making this was watching Rocco go in circles before finding him a comfy spot on the batting.

Anyway, this is my half-assed version. We'll see how well it works by how many hospital visits L.J might need.

Sorry for the lack of photos. These were the only ones I was able to take before my camera decided to die.

This Is Going To Be A Big Hit At The Party (No Pun Intended)

Moose A. Moose never looked so cute! I have never made a pinata, nor have I ever paper mache'd before in my life, so I'm really excited that this pinata came out as good as it did!

While doing research for a Moose A. Moose themed party and finding that I would have to make everything due to lack of merchandise featuring the "mascot" of Nick Jr., I came across a picture of a Moose A. Moose pinata! After finding the instructions, I set out to make him.

I followed the directions to the tee and it was fairly easy. I thought I would have the hardest time trying to make the mold out of chicken wire, but that was probably the easiest step (minus the scratches I did obtain trying to piece his nose together). I didn't even get help from Mr. A.



As I mentioned earlier, I have never paper mache'd before in my life so I didn't know where to start. I made my paste by mixing flour into boiling water and it worked out very well. Working with the paste while warm was so much better than working with a cold, sticky mess. I thought TLH would want to help with this part but I was wrong. She stuck her hand in the goo and said 'No, thanks.' To be such a tomboy, she was being a priss about getting her hands dirty.



Once all the paper mache was dry and Moose was assembled, it was time to bring him to life. I had a difficult time finding brown streamer so I broke down and ordered it on eBay (I hate paying for shipping). I cut the streamers 3/4 of the way through and spray glued it on. Before I knew it, I was drawing his eyes and mouth and calling it a day.



Thanks to Anthony Rocchio for posting instructional photos. If it weren't for your post, there would be no pinata at the party.

Sew Happy!

What Mumu wants, Mumu gets. Well, not always but today was my lucky day! I didn't have to do much persuading at all.

Mumu: Let's run to the store.

Mr. A: What for?

Mumu: A sewing machine.

Mr. A: An early Mother's Day gift.



I ♥ U, Mr. A.

Oh, Brother CE-5000PRW

I've wanted a sewing machine for years now but I haven't gotten around to getting one because I really don't know how to sew. I have big ideas about making clothes and costumes for my girls or just being able to hem my own pants.

Not until recently, when my younger sister got herself one, that I started to do some research on them. I found a Brother sewing machine that I would love to learn on so now it's up to me to persuade Mr. A to invest in my big ideas.

No Party Is Complete Without A Party Hat

Because there are no Moose A. Moose party favors in existence, I've decided to get my creative juices flowing and make my own favors and decor. I put my sister to work making the invitations and 'Thank You' cards while I made party hats! Can you guess which hat is the birthday girl's?