Help Me with my Hair!!!

I LOVE my hair short and spikey.  It's super easy to style, super easy to deal with, no babies pulling on it, etc.  This is how I love it best:

(Totally ignore the goofy facial expression in the following pic.  Remember, we're dealing with the hair. hee hee)

There are a couple of downsides to short hair.  One is that I have to get it cut often.  My hair grows really fast, and my hair cutter lives quite a ways away.  But I can deal with that.  

The other downside I can't just "deal" with, however.  My hubby doesn't like my hair like this.  He doesn't like it short and spikey--says it's too much like a boys'.  

This is how my hair is currently, though it's gotten longer since this picture was taken.  (Sorry for the blurry picture.  It was a kind of dark room, and I don't like my picture taken, so there aren't very many very often.):

My hubby says he doesn't mind if I get it cut shorter, just not as short as I'd really like.  He suggested something like what Alice has in the movie Twilight.  But my hair has wonky waves to it, and I really don't have the time to flat iron, style, etc.  I need quick and easy.

I also can't do a whole lot in the way of bangs.  See how my hair always flows out around my forehead? That's just the way it goes.  It always has.  It won't hang down nicely in front. 

So here's where you come in.  How do you like my hair?  Short or long?  Any suggestions on a style that's not too short bu not too long that you think might work for me?

Knife Block Up-Cycle

Ok, my friend Jenine did an awesome upcycle of her knife block, and she agreed to let me share it with all of you!

She started with the typical knife block that we all have sitting on our counters, some spray paint, and an accent detail.

Here is how she says she did it:

You don’t need to cover the holes.  The paint just doesn’t go into the holes. 

What I found neat is that the scars from not putting the knives away carefully look really pretty now that I distressed it. 

I used the purple first, let it dry, then used the green over the top.  Once it was dry I sanded to reveal the purple underneath.  I did the opposite with the flower disk (green then purple).  I used Gorilla wood glue for the disk.

The entire project cost me $8.00.  $3/ea for the paint, and $2 for the disk.  Got all supplies at Hobby Lobby (used my 40% off coupon for 1 of the paint cans).

The colors are Ivy Leaf (Krylon) and Grape (American Accents).

These photos don't totally do the colors justice, as they're deeper than they appear.  The purple looks more accurate in this photo:

The green looks more accurate in this photo:

She has not yet sealed it with anything, but likely will.  She originally got the idea from Johnny in a Dress.  Now I've been eyeing my own knife block.  I'm thinking bright tomato red!

Thank you for sharing your project with us, Jenine!  It looks great! 

Green Smoothies

I few times recently, I have had people ask me what my favorite green smoothie recipes are.  While I know that there are wonderful recipes out there, I don't use any recipes for ours!  We buy whatever fruits and veggies are in season or on sale, and we throw whatever we have into our smoothies.

I typically start with an apple, pear, or both.  We also typically throw in a very generous handful of spinach.  From there, it can vary greatly.  For example, yesterday's smoothie had an apple and a pear, a large handful of fresh cranberries, carrots, frozen strawberries, several leaves of cabbage, 1/2 a cucumber, frozen broccoli, and some romaine lettuce (we're actually out of spinach).  I may mix it up today by using an orange, green leaf lettuce, grapes, peppers, etc.  No matter what mix I use, my kids guzzle it down!

I do also add water to help thin it down some.  Otherwise, it's pretty thick.  My Little Love #5 is severely allergic to dairy, so I don't use any kind of dairy base like milk, yogurt, etc.  I also can't use bananas, avocados, or various other tropical fruits because of her allergies.  But my kids have never complained.  Any time the smoothie seems a bit too tart or bitter to me, I'll either add a large dollop of Polaner All Fruit or local raw honey.  But this is a rare occurrence.

So grab some fruits and veggies, grab your blender, don't worry about specific recipes, and enjoy your fresh fruit-and-veggie smoothies!!

Happy birthday to me!!!

Ok, my hubby loves me a ton.  The other day was my birthday.  I wasn't feeling well, but I had a midwife appointment in the morning.  Knowing the appointment would be short, we loaded up the kids and headed there (we can't take the kids inside, however, because they use latex gloves in the office.  So my hubby waited out in the car with them.).  After the appointment (where everything looked and sounded great with baby), we ran to the pet store to get crickets for Itchy (our pet tarantula) and food for our fish.

We LOVE the pet store we went to.  It's owned by a super-nice guy who truly knows and takes good care of his animals.    While there, we picked out a couple of gorgeous orange shrimp and a sweet little boy pleco for our tank.

Doesn't he look like a sweet little old man?  =)  We named him Plucky.

Then, my hubby gave me a wonderful surprise.  He told me I could pick out a snake for my birthday!!  As some of you know, I've been really wanting a sand boa, as I discussed in a recent post.  I went ahead and held a couple of different rosy boas, too, but the sand boa still had my heart.  So he came home with me!!

On the way home, my hubby chuckled and said, "Most women would want a pretty dress for their birthday.  But I got my wife a snake."  What a great man!

I named him Malcolm, but I just call him Mal.  He's sooooo cute and sweet and still so little!

So we now have a couple more very loved members of our family.  Thank you to my sweet hubby for such a wonderful birthday surprise!!

Oh, and we also have a gift card from my sister-in-law to Hobby Lobby for two of my girls.  I can't wait to see what fun crafty stuff we all decide to get!  Have any of you seen anything recently that's simply a gotta-have?

No Poinsettias for Me!

I've always liked poinsettias.  Something about the vibrant red and green just put that holiday feel in the air.  Poinsettias have never liked me, however.  I don't have the time to put in the effort to give it the darkness it needs every day to stay in bloom.  And for some reason, I can't seem to keep them from losing all of their petals.  And their leaves.  So I start with a gorgeous flower and end up with a stem.  Not exactly sure what I'm doing wrong.

But, all of that doesn't matter any more.  Many of you may know that my Little Love #5 is severely allergic to latex.  Severely, as in she goes into anaphylaxis if she's in the same room as a balloon.  Those poinsettias that are doomed when in my care?  They're in the same family as the rubber tree.  That white, sticky, sap stuff you see when you accidentally break a stem?  That's latex.

Many people who are airborne allergic to latex are airborne allergic to poinsettias.  I'm not sure if LL#5 is or not.  I haven't gotten her close enough to one to find out.  It makes this time of year tricky.  Poinsettias are common Christmas decorations.  They're sold in the stores, on the counters in doctors' offices, in people's homes, in churches, nearly everywhere you go.  Our family members refrain from having poinsettias in their houses for my daughter's sake.  Our church changed their many-decade tradition of poinsettias and now use a different flower to decorate with.  Fake poinsettias are also a good option.

It's amazing how life can change when there are life-threatening allergies involved.  Things that once were attractions, now repel.  But that's ok.  I'd just kill them anyway.  =)

More sickness, contractions, etc.

This has been a rough week.  We were all excited to go to my parents' for Thanksgiving, when my two oldest ended up sick.  It seems like somebody has been sick most of the month this month.  That's one of the things about having a lot of little kids--higher chances of getting exposed, higher chances of someone getting sick, and it takes forever if it goes through everybody in the family.

Praise God, I haven't gotten sick so far.  The sitting and snuggling sick kids has actually not been too bad of a thing, as it makes me sit and relax.  I've been contracting a lot, and I'd really like to carry this baby to term (my last two were preemies).

So, we made the most of Thanksgiving here at home.  We watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, my hubby grilled steaks for everybody, and he ran to a Redbox to rent Cars 2.

I hope everybody's Thanksgiving was wonderful!

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Project - Tutorial

Our family loves the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle.

My kids love to read this book, but I wanted to make it more interactive.  I started by sketching all the foods the caterpillar eats through onto paper.

I then cut all the foods out of colored felt.  I glued on the embellishments at first, then I decided that it wouldn't be enough to stand up to lots of use.  So I added some stitches, too.

I then made a ribbon caterpillar.  I used green 3/8" grosgrain ribbon with a medium-sized red button head.  I sewed the button onto the ribbon.  I used a larger green button on the rear end of the caterpillar to hold the foods on as he eats through them.  I also drew on a smile and two antennae.

I cut slits in each of the foods, just large enough for the red button to pass through.  

Now the caterpillar can eat through all the foods he eats in the book!

This is so much fun for the kids, and it's great for education, too!  It helps them work on their counting (one apple, 2 pears, etc), it helps them work on figuring out sequence (what did he eat first, second, etc), and it even gives them practice on how to button a button!

If you decide to make your own food and caterpillar, please e-mail me pictures.  I'd love to see them!

Linked up at: Fabric Bows and More, Serenity Now, Six Sisters' Stuff, Chef in Training, and Tea Rose Home.