Dirty Car

Keeping a car clean and straightened with two kids traveling inside is a difficult task. The kids like to take toys along for the ride and they occasionally like to have a snack. When winter hits it's kind of hard to keep it organized because the last thing I want to do is stand outside in the freezing cold. Pictured below is what it looked like after a very long winter.

Please don't judge me because of my messy car. I gave serious consideration on how to handle this messy business. I looked into several back seat organizer. They had everything that I could want but they were either black or grey. BORING!!! So I decided to attempt making them myself. I went to the fabric store and picked out fabric that I thought best suited my little kids. Here they are below.

Aiden got Rock and Roll fabric, is this not the best material for a him? He loves his guitars and music. I thought it fit him to a "T". It has pockets for his books, crayons, glasses, and his "handy dandy notebook." (Blue's Clues saying)

I made my little girl this organizer with flip flop material because she loves flip flops just like her mama. We are so excited that flip flop season is right around the corner. I added some flowers and lace to hers...well because she likes that kind of stuff.


Here's the organizers in the car. I made them so that we can just slip them over the head rest. It's long enough for the kids to get what they want.

I made a deal with myself that when we get home from someplace I take a quick minute to throw everything back into the organizer.

These organizers were successful for our long trip down to South Jersey over the weekend. I think I want to try to make a little trash bag for each of them, so they don't have me reaching around the back to get their trash while I'm driving. Stay tuned for that and other tips for keeping your car organized.

I hope you are enjoying this early Spring weather!!

XOXOXO

Spring in Popping Up

We got a little hint of Spring here this weekend. The temperatures were in the low 50's. The sun was shining and we enjoyed as much fresh air as possible. While food shopping today, our little toots asked for some flowers. How could we say no? I also like buying some fresh flowers this time of year. So here is our little toots getting the flowers ready to put in a vase. Hope you all had a great weekend.

Projects of the Week

Here are some of the projects I worked on this week. I have been trying to keep busy as much as possible to keep my mind off of everything that has happened.

I picked up some frames from the dollar store with plans to make them pretty.

I sprayed paint some of the frames silver and gold. I found these gems also at the dollar store. I hot glued them onto the frames



Here is one of the frames with our beloved Lily. I wanted to pay tribute to her. She was a great dog. We miss her!!

Here is another frame with some embellishments on it. It's a present for my Nana. Shhh, don't tell her. LOL



These were some candle-sticks that I bought several years ago. They have been sitting down in the basement got a couple years and thought I really need to do something with these..either decorate or donate them.




I spray painted the candlesticks white.



I added some flowers and crystals to make it more shabby chic. I thought it also looked rather springy.



This is a close up, don't look too close you might see some mistakes.



I put the New candlesticks on the Dining Room table with some other decorations for Spring.

It's been a very long week here for us. We are hoping for a nice weekend and some time to relax.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!!

XOXOXOXO

Suppose to...

Today, I was suppose to be blogging about the projects I have been working on, but there is something sad going on in our house today...

A couple of days ago we noticed that Lily (our oldest dog) was walking into things. She would walk into things like Aiden's fire truck, and huge box that our TV came in. Lily doesn't like walking in the snow she hates it. She basically stays very close to the house when she goes out. Last night I couldn't find her. She was laying down by our little pond. When I called for her she went up to the top deck and kept walking into chairs up there. When I went up to get her she followed my voice and slid down the stairs. She has a hard time going down steps now a days. I told Tommy last night that I was worried about her because she does not seem herself. She seems dazed and confused. I even asked if dogs could get Alzheimer's, that's what it seemed like to me. We just put it on the back burner.

This morning when Tommy came to wake me up he said that he wants to take Lily to the Vet right away. He said that there is blood coming out of her butt. (Sorry to be gross). I immediately lost it.

Tommy took her to the Vet to see what was going on with our Lily. They did some blood work and took some x-rays. The x-rays showed nothing and the blood work did not sure much. They said that it could be one of three things: Renal failure, Malignancy, or inflamed spleen. They need to do more tests and hydrate her. She has been vomiting so the dehydration is to be expected. Two of the things are treatable and the other is not. So we have to wait almost 7 days to find out what is wrong with Lily. Her blindness could be due to cancer or high blood pressure. It must be something in the air because I had my blood pressure taken on Saturday and it was very high. Hmmmm, I wonder what it could be?!?!?!?

So now we wait and see, which is the worst part of all this. The one good thing that came out of the trip to the Vet is that we found out that Lily no longer has Lyme's disease. (Tommy thought this might be what was causing all of her problems).

This is a picture of Lily and Tommy almost exactly 10 years ago. We bought Lily home the first March that we lived here, it was right around Easter which is why we decided to call her Lily. Like the Easter flower. We instantly fell in love with her when we picked her up from SPCA. She has been a great dog. She is so good and loving. She has taken good care of us. I just feel so horrible that we have not showed her as much attention as we us to or should have. She has been so good with the kids, just a little nervous. I think that she is afraid of hurting them.

When I was pregnant with them she would always smell me and cuddle with me always near my ever growing belly. I knew that she knew I was pregnant. It was because of Lily I knew I was pregnant after a few days of my IVF egg implantation. She was acting crazy weird around me. Dogs know things!!

I sit here now wondering if we are doing the right thing. Is she in pain? If this is her end should she be at the vet or here with us. How will our other dog Bing be with out her. I don't want her to be in pain!! I just want her to be at peace. Please keep "our Lily" (which is what Aiden calls her) in your thoughts and prayers. Thanks!!!

Country Living

My favorite magazine is "Country Living". Some of you maybe surprised, thinking that my favorite magazine would be Martha Stewart's"Living". I do love her magazine too, but "Country Living" is more of my style and more to my budget. In the magazine they always show their books, that I always wanted to get them, but can never seem to find a good deal on it or I can't find it at Border's. Last week I was on Amazon.com looking for a gardening book that came highly recommended (more on that book another time), as I was checking out low and behold "Country Living-Simple Country Wisdom" popped up at a sale price, so it went into my shopping cart. I was so happy to see it in the mail just as the snow was falling. It has 501 Old Fashioned Ideas to Simplify Your Life. I crave to live a simple life.<>div>

In the book the author Susan Waggoner says that "Households that preserve the do it for ourselves tradition seem to be happier, livelier, and more interesting places to be and the people who live there are almost always people I want to know....picking up a crafting hobby like knitting, quilting, or sewing. You'll live a richer, more varied life because of it."

I am a do-it-yourself kind of chic because that is the way I grew up. My father fixes everything inside and outside of the house. He will even try to tinker with the car if it's not too complicated. My mom always made sure we were nicely dressed and well taken care of, and got what we wanted or needed even if we couldn't afford it.
I am lucky to have such great parents and role models in my life. I love them dearly. The one person that I am often compared to and that makes me happier then anything is my Nana.

I remember when I was little and would get to spend the night with her, she would always have her hands in everything. She could be baking something sweet to snack on, then she would be out in the garden, then back into the house to fix something that needed to be fixed, then we would be in her closets playing dress up, then she would be decorating, and then she would be getting the next meal ready. As she was doing this, she would include me in her activities. Nana is now almost 90 years old and she is still like this, but at a slower pass all while looking her best!! Nana is someone that I am very close to, we are very much alike. I am honored when people compare me to her because she is the STRONGEST person I know.

Wow, I was not planning to blog about this, but I guess while I was talking about old fashioned ideas, Nana came to my mind.

Back on track...last nights dinner was so simple and delicious I thought I would share it with you.

Couscous Salad with Roasted Vegetable and Chick Peas
http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/couscous-salad-with-roasted-vegetables-and-chickpeas?backto=true&backtourl=/photogallery/quick-main-course-salad-recipes#slide_12
I just realized I forgot to add the arugula. Oh well!! At least I remembered to feed the kids.

Hope you have a great day. Come back tomorrow to see what projects I've been doing!!

Home Goods..Goods

So the kids and I traveled to Home Goods in Newton because a little birdie told me that it was opened. It wasn't :0(. I had an errand to run in that area so it was all good. I then traveled to Mount Olive area, good thing I know where most of the Home Goods are in the area. My goal was to get some things to make my office area a little cheerier. I'm really into this blog world and have so many ideas to share. A lot of businesses have started through blogging, that is what I am hoping. If you get my emails great, but it's ok to be a follower on my blog. I will start to have give aways and prizes only to my followers. It's also great to have people comment on my blog. (Whether you like the idea, don't like the idea, or have a better idea). I am begging you to be a follower!! Please!!! I promise some good ideas and funny things that happen to me a long the way. Plus wouldn't it be good to say that I was one of Janine's first followers (While you are watching me on Martha Stewart). I can dream can't I?

So I found these great colorful folders to store articles and ideas that I see.This fun notepad to jot down all my ideas. Which I already did for next week. The clip board well because it was a fun color and had my initial on it and this little notebook with post-its and page flag-its.

My little office is here for now. I would like a nice bulletin board to put on the wall to display things that interest me and that I want to share with you!!

So, you got two for the price of one today. I am off to spray paint, which means a nice buzz for me and the doggies. You'll have to wait and see what I am doing later in the week, but the next person who follows me on my blog will receive one of the things I am making. So go ahead. Get on my blog and follow me. For the few that are already following me thank you and I will have an announcement on Sunday about followers.

Happy March

Well, March is here which hopefully means that spring is right around the corner. I love the springtime because everything comes back to life and it's also time to start planning my garden. More on that another day.
This week we will be decorating for spring and making sure all the winter stuff is put away. If there was just some way to get rid of all that snow in my yard.

Yesterday, I was lucky enough to have Tommy drop me off at an antique market. I purchased some things that reminded me of spring. I bought a pink necklace, a pink plastic flower, flower buttons, 2 doilies, a gold sand dollar pin, and a toile cup. Everything was a total of $9.00. I love when I get a lot for hardly any money. See what I have done with the items later in the week.

Well now that it's March and I am decorating the house and adding spring color everywhere. I thought I should brighten myself up by switching to my spring purse. Nothing says spring to me then my Vera Bradley purse. It adds such color to me!! Good buy my friend LV. I will miss you and see you later in the fall!!



I hope that everyone had a great weekend. I also hope that you are all looking forward to spring to!!

Have a great day.
XOXOXOXO