My Halloween Costume

So at least my costume didn't come out as an epic fail! I found an old dress, some black heels, a basket (which I will be handing the candy to the little kiddies out of), and used these directions to make the cape!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween-A-Palooza

So yesterday I started some VERY last-minute Halloween preparations. (Hey, I figure with the move and all, I'm allowed to be a little late =P)

So the first thing I did was make these DELICIOUS cookies from this website (she has SO MANY yummy things to make!). Originally I was going to post pictures and directions...but I'm feeling lazy and still have to sew the cape for my costume and I figure anyone that is interested in making them can click the link and use those directions :)

I put pumpkin candies instead of candy corn because they're cuter (in my opinion) and offer more honey-flavored goodness :) (Did you know that that is the flavoring of candy corn? Honey. Didn't know that until the other day.)

The next thing I did was fail at an attempt to make a mouse costume out of an old sweatshirt. So instead, Flashdance!

Again I was going to post how I made this...but really, I don't think anyone is going to want to replicate that epic fail. Oh, well. Embarrassing pictures to show to future boyfriends.

At least the cookies turned out good! In fact I keep running back into the kitchen to grab one :) Breakfast of champions!

From "In My Backyard" to In my LIVINGROOM?!?

So this morning when I got up I was greeted by this little guy skittering across my living room ceiling:


The way he moved was so neat I had to get a bit of video!

Unfortunately he seems to have skittered off somewhere...I'm hoping to find him before my dog does!!!

In My Backyard??

Today as I was pulling into my driveway after dropping my husband off at the base I noticed a family of iguanas sunning themselves in my backyard! Of course I ran inside and grabbed my camera. A couple ran off before I could capture them on film but two of the biggest stuck around and modeled for me!


This big boy was hanging out on the sidewalk a few feet down the street. If I hadn't been holding my daughter I would have tried to get closer! Thank goodness for a good zoom feature on my camera!This, my friends, is a perfect Wordless Wednesday!

Shark® Steam Mop Review

So because all of the floors in our new home are that faux-wood, my husband and I decided to try out the Shark® Steam Mop.

We picked it up at the Navy Exchange around the corner from our house yesterday, and I was eager to get it out from the box! Right off I loved how easy it was to assemble. Just a few clicks and it's together! It has a very long cord, which makes it easy to move from room to room without having to plug and unplug every few feet, and I love the fact that all it needs is tap water--no worrying about my daughter or my dog getting into chemicals, and no need to buy any bottles of cleaning fluid or those wasteful (and certainly not eco-friendly!) disposable pads.

Another thing I liked about the Shark® was the size. It is tall enough that I wasn't having to bend over and hurt my back when I pushed it foreward.


(Don't I just look lovely in this pic? Lol.)

After I swept the house I mopped all but my daughter's and my bedrooms (I still have some unpacking to do in there), and this was the result:

The top one was the other clean pad that they included with the mop. As you can see, they aren't kidding when they say "The proof is on the pad"!

I may have to go over some areas one more time (just to satisfy my perfectionism) but I have to give the mop a lot of credit--this place was COVERED in dirt and dust from the renovations they had done before we moved in.

The floor also dried practically instantly, so I didn't end up mopping myself up into a corner like you can sometimes do with other mops.

Overall, I give the Shark® five stars! :)

Breathe in, Breathe out!

Phew! This past week has been crazy! I'll spare you the details but we finally got settled in on-base housing this week, and today our internet got hooked up (hooray!)




The house we live in is wonderful, it has a great little area for gardening that is actually inside the porch, so no worrying about the resident iguanas (yes, you read that right, there are iguanas running around in my backyard) from chowing down on my vegetables.







Right across the street from us is a playground, and if you walk about fifteen feet out into our backyard you can walk out onto our private (though dilapidated...smells like a project to me!) dock on the water :)









Also after doing some research I decided to order the Ninja Master Prep, so as soon as that comes in I will be sure to post my personal review on it! My next major project is to figure out how to start my vegetable garden as well. This will be my first crack at a garden, so wish me luck! I will be chronicling the journey here on my blog, and you can be sure there will be plenty of pictures :)

Decorative Wall Hanging

This is my first tutorial! It was inspired by Make and Takes's post Mod Podge Magic :) (She also has a lot of adorable crafts there so be sure to check her out!)

I started out with just a few pieces of scrap wood from my mom's workshop:
Next, I had my mom cut the wood down to the size I wanted (because I probably would have hurt myself if I tried to do it):

Then I sanded the wood down so it was nice and smooth (make sure to get the edges too!):

I picked out a nice chocolate color for the base color of the wood that my mom had laying around from when she was picking colors to paint her house (doesn't it look delicious?):

Make sure to paint not only the front of the wood, but also the sides.

Next I used some stencils to add a nice design to the top and bottom pieces:

Here's what that ended up looking like:

Next I used some stencils to write "Family" on the top piece. You can write anything you want here, obviously.

Then I got some cream and red ribbon left over from Christmas and twisted it together, then hot glued it to the top...
...and the bottom pieces (you can see how this looks in the finished product)
Then I simply tied a bow on the top part (you could leave this as a loop, it may be less frustrating--it took me forever to get it even!).
After that you can add pictures to the bottom, or what I may do with my next one is glue a little clear sleeve onto the bottom part and use it to hold my menu plan for the week, schedule, etc :)

I hoped you enjoyed my first tutorial as much as I did making it!!!

Wondering about the color of my thumb...

One thing I really want to do when we arrive in Key West (assuming we get a place that this will be possible) is start a garden. I'll probably start out with tomatoes, as they are pretty hard to kill, and hopefully one day be able to grow some strawberries--they are absolutely my favorite fruit. I hope to be able to start doing some canning as well.
I have so many goals for myself right now; I am just hoping that I can accomplish them all. So far my goals include starting a garden, meal planning consistently, making more handmade things (toys for my daughter, presents for Christmas, etc), canning, making my own baby food (hopefully from my own home-grown fruits and veggies!), and hopefully keeping up with all of it on this blog.
I need to find a good way to get my thoughts organized on these things so I have a firm "point A" to begin at. If anyone has any suggestions please leave a comment!
As for my Link of the Day, I suggest checking out Granny Green:
http://www.granny-green.com/
This is a website I recently stumbled upon when Hillbilly Housewife's Susanne retweeted an amazing quote from her the other day, "If you can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel, march down there and turn it on yourself."
She is a fun blog to follow, and she has some great recipes and tips on her site as well, so be sure to stop by there and take a look :)

I Promise, I'll Write.

I have a very bad habit of starting blogs, but then never updating them. The last blog I constantly updated I had in high school. Anyone remember or still use Xanga? That was my haven. I now am an avid mom-blogger follower, and I want to start my own.
Let me use my first blog entry to introduce you to some of my favorites:
www.hillbillyhousewife.com
www.freesamplefreak.com
www.dooce.com

Hillbilly Housewife has to be my favorite site in the world. It is FULL of all kinds of useful crafts, recipes, and the best part--Susanne always responds to her emails.
Free Sample Freak is great if you love getting mail--and free stuff :) I love getting her daily emails, all packed with links to great free stuff that you can get from anywhere on the web. She also tries everything herself before posting it, just to make sure it's legit.
Dooce is an obvious one, and is purely for my entertainment. She gets a lot of flack, but I think she's a hoot.

Since I'm mid-move to Key West (my husband is in the USCG) I won't have too many interesting posts for a little bit, but I will be posting a few crafty how-to's as soon as I get my sewing machine back from the movers--I'm having withdrawal already!!!

Let me leave you with a Link of the Day:
For anyone with children--or even just to entertain the child inside, this little monster tutorial is just adorable.
http://members.chello.nl/p.ijzendoorn5/moshi-moshi/feltmonstertut/index.htm