Dirk

I needed a fish.  A beta fish to be exact.  I wanted this fist to swim in a bowl which I already owned and be a centerpiece of a table decoration at C's birthday party this weekend.  Something fun.  Something to talk about.  I figured C might like to watch the fish swim too.

The family was out and about and I asked to go by the pet store and pick up my beta fish.  (I had already gone to Wal Mart against my better judgement because they used to sell fish but not anymore). 

At Pets Mart we were greeted with a wide variety of fish.  Mike decided that a goldfish was a better choice for us and I picked out the very special goldfish that would live in the bowl which I already owned.

When the Pets Mart lady came to retrieve said goldfish she mentioned that goldfish would only live 2-3 years in a bowl and approx. 12 years in a tank.  She did not recommend a bowl.  I refrained from mentioning that I was just hoping this goldfish would last through the weekend and I was not planning on having him as a part of our family for the next 2-3 years much less 12 years. 

So what's the perfect fish for a bowl?  A Beta.  That's what I thought.  Back to the Beta section to pick out the perfect Beta.

While I'm looking at the fish trying to decide which color Beta would look work best with my party color scheme, Mike has found the cute Beta "tanks"... and the rocks.... and the plants....  In his opinion the bowl we have at home was not going to work for our new pet.  We needed this small glass box designed for beta fish. 

The helpful Pets Mart lady said that our fish would be "less stressed" if we had an ugly fake plant in the box. 

The last thing I want is a stressed out Beta.

So, we leave Pets Mart with a Beta, a Beta box, marbles, an ugly fake plant, Beta Food, and Beta Water purifier.  If we had stayed any longer we would have left with a giant tank that cleaned itself.



Does that look like a stressed out Beta? 

I didn't think so.




I wanted you to notice that this tank is no ordinary glass box, no.  This box came with it's own light.  A light that the Pets Mart lady said the fish did not need but it does reflect nicely off the blue marbles I picked for the bottom (they match the color scheme of the party). 

Our fish is a boy (of course) and since I did not get much of a say in his environment I figured I should get to name him- and I was going to pretend like he was a girl- the only girl in my household. 

Mike said since he was blue we should call him Dirk.  Cason said "Hi Dirk".  And that's how I lost that battle.

Cason does love Dirk.  He talked to Dirk more than he talked to me.  It's really quite cute.

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Vitimins

These vitamins taste so good I want to eat more than the recommended 2.

Yes, they are mine.

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Baby monitor pictures

I wish our baby monitor had a way to take pictures, there have been so many great ones over the last few years.

I put Cason in his bed with his croc shoes on. They are a little big and he likes to play with them usually. I checked the monitor a few hours later and he fell asleep wearing them. Wish the picture was better!




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Good sandwich

I like this stuff.




It's relatively new and very yummy.  It's like a rotisserie chicken carved into a box.  It's in the lunchmeat section and it's probably a little more expensive than your typical lunchmeat but since it's new there have been coupons in the paper and it's been on sale.  It's probably less processed than regular lunchmeat too... since it looks the same as if you carved the chicken yourself. 

Random Story: I woke up this morning and both of my pillows were on the floor with the pillowcases removed.  I'm not a restless sleeper and my pillowcases could not have slipped off.  Something in my dreams made me remove the pillowcases and dump the pillows.  I remember none of this.  I am super tired today.  Weird. 

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Valentines Cookies

I made Valentines cookies this week for Casons class that turned out really cute and since they were pretty easy, I thought I would share.

First, make a cookie dough.  I made a shortbread cookie instead of a sugar cookie because my smart friend Connie said that it held it's shape better when you are making cutout cookies and tastes even better (if you like that sort of thing).  Shortbread cookies only have butter, sugar, flour and almond extract (or vanilla).  Very Easy. 






Next grab the rolling pin and a floured surface and roll it out to about 1/4" thick.  I cut them into squares by eyeballing it since I sent mike to the store the night before a blizzard and he was unable to locate a heart cookie cutter- even with the help. (Can you believe I don't own any cookie cutters?)  I'm guessing that's because everyone else had the smart idea to make heart shaped cookies for valentines day during the blizzard.








Layout your squares.  They can be close together because they don't spread.










I used a knife and carved a heart into the dough only going about 1/2 way through.  This is the part where I needed the heart cookie cutter but it was actually really easy to just draw it in with the knife.







When they were done baking and had cooled I made a quick icing with powdered sugar and red food coloring and milk and a little more almond extract.  Using a spoon I spread it on the heart surface.  It was actually pretty easy.  I kept the icing pretty thick so it didn't run all over the cookie.... and having cooled cookies is key. 

Unfortunately I overcooked the cookies or overmixed (or both) and they were a little hard.  I'll try harder next time! 

I'm sure that the 2 year-olds really enjoyed these cookies.  When I got to his class they had licked off the pink icing and hadn't really touched the rest.  Oh well, at least they looked good!

Check out the Valentines Decorations I made HERE.

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Legacy Cakes

This is my new favorite and if you are close to Grapevine you need to get over here!  I was introduced to these amazing cakes by my sister who is friends with the owner.  Megan appeared on Americas Next Great Baker on TLC and came in second. If you watched the show- she is just as nice in person as she was on TV. 

Legacy Cakes

Legacy Cakes is on Main Street in Grapevine.  It's no secret that I'm a Sprinkles fan when it comes to cupcakes but I'm telling you, her cupcakes are just as good.  On top of that- she is usually in the store and such fun to talk to. 

There are often different flavors but I love the new cookie dough one I just tried today. 

She is an incredibly talented decorator as well.  Her wedding and special event cakes are beautiful.  

So go.  Try it.  And let me know what you think. 

A Slap In the Face

More like 5 slaps.  2 has taken over and I'm getting eaten alive.  Cason got to this stage so quickly I don't feel at all prepared.  Today in addition to getting slapped 5 times, headbutted, a favorite dish got broken and I lost my religion with the dog.  That has nothing to do with Cason being 2 but it might not have happened if I hadn't had such a rough day.

I feel terrible saying this but I can't handle being stuck inside anymore.  It's 0 degrees outside and everything is covered with ice and school has been cancelled the last two days and it's cancelled tomorrow too.  I liked my routine.  Tuesday while Cason was in school I cleaned the house.  So, the house is messy.  Wednesday mornings we went to BSF and I really enjoy that that time... but that didn't happen.  Thursdays while Cason is in school I write my lessons for Thursday and Friday.  Not going to happen.  I'm out of activities to keep us busy and my house is somewhat of a disaster.  I should be thankful we have heat and each other but I'm just ready to get the routine back.  I hope I'm not alone.

Oh, and can one of my 3 readers please tell me how to stop Cason from throwing things when he gets frustrated?  If you hate commenting on blogs please email me or something.... It's an emergency.  Also, tell me if you are supposed to spank and do time out or just spank.

Thanks.

So much to say...

Do you ever feel like you have so much to do you don't know where to start? I do. Typically I do nothing when I get like that. That's how I feel with blogging, way behind so I don't know where to start. So, I'll start with a cute pic of baby c.





What happened? When did he almost get to 2? He's acting 2 even though he technically isn't there yet. When he gets mad, he will throw himself on the ground and roll around crying. I just walk away. Don't know if that is good pArenting but thats how it goes at my house. I've also noticed that he will stiffen his body and straighten his arms above his head when he doesn't want me to pick him up because he realized that made it harder for me. It's quite irritating.

Did I tell you that i. Teaching 3 classes and not really working at the firm anymore? I want to figure out how to get some design work back in- especially on days like today when in my class of 3 students, 1 had car troubles and didn't show up and the other 2 didn't bring their projects that are due cause the didn't understand the directions... Which is bull. I don't think they realize what is going to happen when I take 50% off for being late. Most days I like it though.

There's more to say but I better get back to class. More later.

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Best. Movie. Ever.

Okay, maybe not the best but it's up there. I was sitting in church on Sunday wishing the choir would bust out in this number. If our music minister decides to add it to the repertoire then I will be there to do the rap part. It's my dream.

I'm serious- I'll do it.

New Addition

Check out the new addition to our living room on my design blog. 

Reality

I was flipping through pictures to find the most perfect and beautiful pictures of our Christmas decorations and I found this one.  It wouldn't be right to show my clean house if I didn't show you this first... since it is how the house looks 99% of the time.  Please tell me I'm not the only one.

Make Your Own Wrapping Paper

I'm so behind on posting.  I'm a little overwhelmed by that.  I have a bunch of Christmas pictures that I intended to post as they happened and now Christmas has come and gone and no one cares about our family Christmas but I'm going to post them anyways.  Baby steps.  Maybe by March I can knock it out.  I'm overwhelmed by a lot right now to be honest.  I have projects I want to do, goals I want to accomplish, things that need cleaning, folding,straightening, cooking and crafting.  I feel like I'm constantly moving and working yet I'm not getting very much done.  Then at night when I want to crawl into bed and watch TV like a zombie I feel so guilty that I'm not up accomplishing things. 

Deep Breath.

Now to what I wanted to tell you.  This Christmas I tried a craft project with Cason.  I love crafts and I'm sure some people think we have a daily craft time at my house and let me assure you- one day we will- but for now, I'm too afraid to bring out the paints and markers for fear of the mess. 

I got brave and decided we could paint the brown craft paper I was using to wrap presents.  This way we could wrap grandparents presents in personalized paper.  I stripped cason down, covered the entire kitchen table in the brown paper and got out my silver and gold paints.  Red and Green would have made more of an impact but you know what happens when red and green paint gets mixed (ugly) and those colors didn't match my other presents (and we can't stray from that). 

I even made a potato stamp so C could stamp hearts on the paper. 

 I had to make some of the marks because C only really wanted to color in one spot.  Hand prints were the most fun and probably the part grandparents would want to see most. 
            As I'm typing this I realize that I should have cut out a hand print for me and put it in a little frame.  Now I'm irritated at myself for not having that little treasure.  Ugh.

 Very proud C with his finished work.  He went straight to the bathtub after that!

I also should have had a picture of the wrapped present but I don't.  Here is a pic of some other stamping I did on the brown paper. 

I stamped the LOVE on one package then outlined it in glitter pen.  The package below it is the one we wrapped in C's paper but you can't really tell.

I encourage you to try this project next year.  Lots of fun and really quite easy.  It cost $0 since I had all the supplies.  Just remember to save yourself a hand print!

Before and After

Just wanted to show you some sweet pictures of C and a little photoshop stuff. 

The boy that lives next door is in high school and is interested in photography.  He's got a great camera and loves taking pictures so I love letting him use C as his model.  He shot some photos while cason was playing in the yard the other day and let us have them.  They turned out so great- I really have no idea how he got shots like this and every photo I take C has his eyes closed. 

Here is one shot:

I love it but I thought I would try to give it a little boost. 

Now I really love it.  Boost is exactly what it is called in Pioneer Woman's Actions for Photoshop.  It's super easy, just the press of a button and bam- lots of color pop.  If you are not reading this womans web site, you really must.  Packed with great stuff. 

Here's Another:

I think this one is cute but I don't love his facial expression.  To me, when people are not smiling in photos it looks too "directed"... Like the photographer is in the background saying- "Give me a sexy face" and the person in the photo immediately wipes away the smile and pokes the lips out.  Hello, smiles are sexy people.  You look nice, approachable and pretty when you smile. 
Sorry, excuse my rant.  I guess I have been looking at too many senior pictures lately.  I know he isn't being directed here, I mean, he's not even 2!  I picked this one to play with because I thought I could get some good color pop. 

I boosted and sharpened this one using her actions but I also sharpened his eyes and added a little color to his lips.  I think his bright pink lips look so cute in the other shot and he was looking washed out in this one.  I was trying to make sure he didn't look like he was wearing makeup.  Then I added a little blur around the edges and I like how it turned out.  Oh, and I cropped it before I did anything.

What do you think?

Soup

With fistfuls (yes, that is plural) Cason waved his hands in the air. Waved them like he didn't care.



I have some cleaning up to do.

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Home Office Help?

You can read this article.  You might recognize one of the names... it's mine!  Someone called the Art Institute and wanted one of the design instructors to comment for their article in Panache magazine.  Since I am the only design instructor, I got interviewed.  I made it clear that my experience is in commercial work and I don't deal with as many residential clients but she didn't care and said I had very good points.  I believe this magazine has been out for a couple of weeks and I have recieved 0 (as in zero) calls, emails, texts, facebooks, or other sort of communication to tell me how much they learned from my insightful office commentary.  I have also recieved 0 (as in zero) people begging me to create the perfect home office design for them.  I'm sure all those messages were left at the school and I will get them when I get back.  I will say that althought I have recieved 0 (still zero) calls, the author did a great job putting my comments in a way that made me sound somewhat intelligent- which I can promise you I did not on the phone. 

Enjoy the article!  Home Offices- Panache Magazine