I mustache you, do you like......Coffee?

Coffee...who doesn't love coffee, especially when it is in your favorite mug?  I found the cutest coffee mugs on etsy the other day.  I wanted a set of them but they were sold.  I had also seen a tutorial on pinterest on how to paint coffee mugs.  I have seen the ones where people use sharpies, and know that they don't last so I decided to try the painted ones.

 The cute ones I found on Etsy!

Source

I went out to a local thrift shop and found two white coffee mugs, they didn't match but I liked that about them!  They only cost me $.50 each so they were definitely worth $1.00 total.  A friend of mine was thrown a baby shower that had a mustache theme to it, each invitation had a cute little mustache that you cut out then brought with you to the party for a prize giveaway. (I think) Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the baby shower thanks to everyone plus one taking off work that same day. The last weekend before school starts is not an ideal time to finally do that family outing you planned for all summer people....you bunch of procrastinators!! LOL  So I cut the mustache out then taped it to the mug using regular masking tape, I then traced the mustache onto the mug with a plain old pencil, and removed the paper mustache after.  The pinterest tutorial used porcelain painting pens for their mugs, but my local Micheals was out of the pens, and I have no patience so I bought a container of brush on paint.  The brush on paint was limited in color but I found a really really dark green and bought it.  Ok I will be honest, the company is a foreign one, I couldn't figure out what the colors were (the shelves were out of order getting ready to be restocked)  and I thought that it was black LOL  The paint cost a whole $1.50 on sale and well was worth it.  I used a fine tip brush to paint it on (and if you make many multiple layers of the dark green, allowing each to dry in between...you get black yay!!)

The porcelain paint I used it is called Vitrea

I then allowed the mugs to dry for the instructed 24 hours, and then let them dry for another 48 because everything got crazy around this house for a couple days, thanks school paperwork that I have to fill out for all the kids even though they go to the SAME school.... and all that information is the same.  Then I placed my mugs upside down in the oven at 320 degrees (the bottle gives you the Celsius temperature, so I had to do some major math skills get on Google and have them calculate it for me) for 40 minutes, then plus an extra 15 because that is when Boogie decided she wanted to wake up from her nap, just as my oven timer was going off!  I then placed them in the dishwasher and washed them.  Jerm and I have both used ours, and washed them a couple times in the dishwasher and they still look like this!

Aren't they cute?  Especially for a grand total of $2.50!!

I do think that I should have trimmed the mustaches down a bit, but Jerm and I just started really drinking coffee everyday thanks to the new coffee pot we got as a wedding gift.  I know how did we survive before? (Monsters Energy drinks!!!) So I didn't have a lot of mugs and wanted to try this, they are not as perfect as I would like them to be (you still see a little green around the edges) but I am going to buy the pens and try some other designs.  I want to work out all the kinks, I think personalized DIY coffee mugs would make great Christmas gifts to Teachers and others, and I have four months to work on them!

I linked this up with a link party why don't you head over there and check out a few more cute and fun ideas!

Writers Workshop...share your earliest childhood memory!!

 There is a blog that I have recently started reading (like it's crack) , I mean honestly I think I have been  reading this blog more than I have been working on my own for the past week.  The author of the blog (Robyn) has been blogging for a while so I have about a years worth of posts that I have been catching up on.  Anyway before I ramble on, and you have no clue what I am talking about.  The blog I have been reading here  http://www.hollowtreeventures.com/ links up with another blogger who hosts a Writers Workshop.  This mommy blogger (Mama Kat) http://www.mamakatslosinit.com/ gives 5 topics that you can choose from each week and there you go...no really I mean it go...get working on that blog post! LOL

    I decided that I am going to give this a shot because:

1. I haven't made any crafts, or have any other ideas
2. My house is a mess, and I don't want to even think about it at the moment.
3. Finally, all the kids are sitting together watching a movie quietly...for now 

* This isn't my earliest memory, honestly this was the first thing that came to mind, so I am sticking with instinct*

 Now I am probably showing my age here, but how many of you remember the reading program in Elementary school?  You know the one where you read a certain amount of books, get a sticker to put on a pin, then turn the pin in for a free personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut?

Who doesn't love a personal pan pizza...for free...as a child!?

  Well if you have not a clue what I am talking about...the program was called Book It!! I loved Book It, I was (still am) an avid reader. This program was perfect for me.  I got something free, for doing something that I already loved to do.  What could be better than that????

Tell me you didn't think that this was the coolest pin ever...if you say no, your lying!

 Later in years (4th grade year for me) my school decided to switch programs, this new program was called 600 minutes.  You had to keep a log about what books you were reading, and how many minutes you read each day. After you completed the program (600 minutes of reading, within about two months) you were given a free ticket to Six Flags!! Don't get me wrong I liked Pizza but you have rides, games, fireworks, and pizza at Six Flags!  Now for an avid reader (like me), who could and often did/does read an hour a day, this was cake. I mean honestly I was that nerdy kid that had The Babysitters Club books delivered to my house!  

Please tell me I wasn't the only one who read these books, and then tried to start my own Babysitters Club?! Right?

So within ten days this kid was done! I was so excited to turn that paper log in, I knew I was the first kid in the school to do it....yeah a little nerdy show off dancing was part of the process.  My teacher, after looking at the paper, told me that my mom must have signed off on a fake log, that there was no way that I was already done!!  Come on lady I am part of the school AR group (advanced reading) are you kidding?!?!  I was so upset, my teacher called me a "liar" in front of everyone (basically), I had told everyone I was done, and now they all thought I had lied!  The teacher refused to take my log, and told me to really read this time or I wouldn't be getting a free ticket.  My mom was PI$$ED!!  She complained but it did no good, so she made me a fake log, a month later we turned it in with a lot of BS 15 minutes here, 20 minutes there kind of entries.....yeah great job teacher, way to make children proud of their accomplishments there.

The teacher was a great teacher, I just think that she honestly didn't think that a 4th grade child would read an hour a day!  I think my teacher was really just trying to keep me honest. Come on fess up, you know that there are parents out there who do their kids homework, or even lie about it.  She probably thought she was teaching my mom a lesson in honesty too! 

My first roller coaster The Texas Giant!

Tallest wooden roller coaster in the...US at the time!

I laugh about it now, and it didn't scar me for life.  I still read like crazy, mostly in the bath when the kids are asleep.....heck my bathwater gets ice cold and I never even notice it sometimes.

Talk about reading in the bath!!

I need one of these *hint hint* Jerm

This takes reading in the bath to another level too!

* I found all the pictures on Pinterest, some went to actual sites while others, yeah to nothing!*

Go check out some of the other posts inspired by Mama Kat, just click the button below, I know its good for a few laughs!

 
 

Wall Art for Baby Boogie

Like so many of my previous DIY posts start....I was cruising on Pinterest, and I found some adorable wall art made out of toilet paper rolls.  I like to save money, I like wall art, and this was very cute, and super super easy.

I had the perfect wall to hang it on, and I think it looks pretty good!

I cut each toilet paper roll into multiple 1/2 inch strips.  Played with the design that I wanted, then hot glued them together.  You can use regular Elmer's type glue, but that takes longer to dry.  After glue is dry spray paint it, and there you go Wall Art!

TIPS:

When you glue it together, make sure that on the bottom side, all the rolls are level.  If they aren't it won't hang very level!

I got about eight strips per roll.  I had friends save some for me too, and the rolls for different brands tend to all be 4 inches in length.

I'm changing my name...

Do you have those days as a mommy, those days that it seems like everything your child/children says, is said in their whinny voice.  Those days when you tell them like 50 times to not do something, or to stop doing something, yet they still think it is a good idea to do it anyway?  You wonder how they are going to survive the world when the tiniest cut requires 30 band aids, and yet at the same time their brother/sister can beat them senseless and somehow they keep going back for more.  Every toy is scattered about the house, you can't go to the bathroom alone, or with out them knocking on the door every two seconds.  Your are just done, and here it comes one of them walks up to you tears in their eyes, bottom lip puckered out, telling you in the whinny est voice you have ever heard that so and so did this.  That is it, I am changing my name my name is no longer "mommy" anything you have to say to her cannot be said to me because well that is not my name anymore!

This is when my oldest looks at me from another room, and calls out to his sibling "call her Alishia, her name is always Alishia" that's it I can't hold it in......I start cracking up laughing and everything else seems well silly,  not important, and look we still have time to make the most of the day!

The kids really are smarter than you, they can control your moods with more accuracy than any prescription drug, and at the same time know what mommy needs to make the day a "good day"


I normally write on these prompts the day before, or the day of. My computer and Blogger were apparently having a spat.  I was terrified the whole thing would end up in one of those nasty dragged out divorces, but oh happy day they seemed to have fixed their problems! Maybe some much needed therapy, or maybe a night on the town, who knows how it was done I am just glad it was. So I didn't really have the time. But this one did follow along with Prompt #3 Write about a time your child was on to you.

 

Cheesy Chicken Noodle Casserole

Cheesy Chicken Noodle Casserole

• Chicken: about 1 LB of boneless/ skinless chicken breasts or tenderloins
• Egg Noodles: about 6oz
• Cream of Chicken Mushroom soup: 2 cans (or one can cream of chicken, and one can cream of mushroom)
• Sour Cream: 1 cup
• Colby Jack Mix Shredded Cheese: 1-2 cups (some stores carry a casserole mix this works too)
• Crumbled Buttery Crackers: 1 cup
• Butter: 1/2 cup

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Place chicken in skillet and brown on both sides, cook egg noodles according to package, drain and set aside.
3. Slice cooked chicken, cubes or you can shred it up.
4. Mix Soup, Sour Cream well, add noodles and chicken.
5. Melt butter add crumbled crackers to butter, then sprinkle on top of the rest of the casserole mixture.
6. Sprinkle cheese over casserole mixture.
7. Bake for 30 minutes or until cheese is melted and casserole top is golden brown.