proud motherhood moment:

successfully remembering and teaching to my children 

the lyrics to this song:

"great green gobs of greasy grimy gopher guts,

mutilated monkey feet,

chopped up baby parakeet,

french fried eyeballs rolling up and down the street.

gee, i forgot my spoon.

but i have a straw!!"

the straw part is new to me, but totally logical.

don't even pretend you don't know this song.

7 months, yo

do you know how much i love this face?

i know you do.

this is her new trick face she likes to pull.

and this is her little smirk she throws around

like nobody's business.

time is flying by too fast with this little one.

a picture (hanging) post

do you know the easiest way to hang a wall of pictures?

i do.

believe me, i've tried them all.

you need a roll of butcher's paper, or art paper.

measure the length of the wall you want to fancy up 

and cut your paper to that length.

i had to tape two long pieces together to get the right height.

then just start laying out all of your frames.  play around with it.  take pictures of different arrangements and them decide.

after you have the layout more or less to your liking

outline each frame with marker, pencil, lipstick, whatever.

get someone cute to check on your progress.

as you take the pictures off the paper write which pictures go in each box.

now hang the paper on the wall and start nailing hangers right over the paper.  told you it was easy.

i switched a couple of frames and added one as i went along, because i'm indecisive like that.  i also left room to add/switch  frames as time goes on, because... i'm indecisive like that.

once you're satisfied tear the paper down.  you might need to take the pictures down to get all the paper off, but don't take them down all at once or you might forget where they're supposed to go.

i'll show you more pics when i actually have stuff in all the frames, and when my curtains aren't just folds of fabric slung over a rod.

and what do you think of my "new" white piano?  it was my birthday gift from the man.  i love love love it.

happy picture hanging.

favorite quote of the day

guy 1 : I wonder if there's life on other planets.

guy 2 : what do you care?  you don't even have a life on this planet.

HA!

from Muppets from Outer Space

love

in honor of this the national day of LOVE you really

need to listen to this.

every person needs to know this.  i hope you do.

now, these are my valentines today.

have a fabulous valentines day!

squinkie squabble

do your little girls play with squinkies?

mine do, unfortunately.

today whitney thought it would be fun 

to dump her approximately 3 million bean-sized bouncy squinkies

all over the floor of the big wide hallway.

sadly, for her, she failed to remember that location is key 

when engaging yourself in criminal activities such as these.

the dump occurred not two steps from both me and the vacuum, 

which seems to permanently reside in my hallway for just such occasions.

just as the last squinkie came to rest my daughter and i locked eyes.

quick as a wink the vacuum was in my hand, motor running,

and we understood each other COMPLETELY.

with my lips stretched into a sinister grin the race was on.

i have never seen such a frantic look in the eyes of a young person.

i also have never, ever seen my daughter clean a 50 square-foot section faster then she did today.

"well, now we all know how fast you can clean. "

is all she heard as she whisked her rescued treasures upstairs to a safer playground.

do you barbeque...

...your pizza?

you should.

it's easy, fast, crispy and oh so delicious.

1. roll dough into thin, medium-sized oblong shapes

2. brush one side with olive oil

3. place dough directly on the grill over medium heat, 

oiled side down 

(my grill's lame so the only temperatures i get are scorching hot and flaming hot, but i like charred crust)

4. while the bottoms of the crusts cook, brush the tops with olive oil and sprinkle with a good sea salt

5. when the tops are bubbly and the bottoms seem cooked (this only takes a few minutes) flip the crusts

6. now add your sauces and toppings and close the lid.  you have to do this last step quickly to leave time for the cheese to melt before the crust is done cooking. 

if the bottoms are done cooking before the cheese melts move the pizzas to indirect heat.

  and watch your pizza carefully or you'll have a bonfire instead of dinner! 

the green pizza has pesto for sauce, fresh mozzarella, baby shrimp, spinach and lemon juice.  

it was goooood.

what the what!?! (a ridiculous amount of pictures to follow. i couldn't help myself)

today it's all about little gwenie pig.

because she's six months old.

and i can't believe it's been six months.

for crying out loud!!

(as devan would say)

this is exactly how this little dab takes in the world:

wide-eyed and alert and very observant and curious.

 almost inquisitive.

she kind of looks at you and checks you out,

determining if you're up to snuff.

unless you're mom.  mom's always up to snuff.

gwen is in love with her feet.  she spends a great deal of her time in pursuit of them, and once caught those little toesies endure her endless bestowal of smooches and declarations of love.

and she has perfected the pout.  

it's adorable but totally contrived.

she knows just how to use it to her advantage.

oh, this baby has my heart completely caught in the grasp of her chubby little slobbery hands.

adventures in thrifting 2 : tea tins

okay, so these aren't all really tea tins, but they could be.

i've had this little collection going for a couple years.

it kind of started by accident.  

my mom gave me one, then i came across another at some thrift store.

then another.

then i found myself specifically looking for more.

and there you have it.

i have more than are pictured that i didn't round up.

i definitely have my favorites.

the ones that aren't so favorite i give to nikki for her room.

i know, i'm so generous. 

these are two of my favorites.  

i love the different shades of pink mixed with the yellows and blues.

it's so happy.

this is another favorite.

it belonged to my great grandma and houses a slew of old fabric hooks and snaps and string.

aren't the birdies so sweet?

i'm not sure why i like them so much.  

i think it's just that they are so very old fashioned,

and totally and shamelessly flowery, gaudy and girly.

do you have any collections, thrifted or not?

and how do you display them?