Saturday, November 13, 2010

Mod Podge Letters

We have two ADORABLE twin girls that live next door.  Seriously, cute.as.a.button.

Their Mom's pretty amazing too, but not so crafty... so her best friend from high school and I are re-doing their rooms (is it re-doing if they were never 'done'?).

One girl is always in pink, and one in purple, so it just seemed likely that those are the colors we are going to use. 

We picked out two pieces of scrapbook paper that had paisley on them.


Even though the wood letters are mostly smooth, sand the edges.

Make sure that you paint the entire back of your letter, and all the sides.
I had picked a brighter pink, but when I laid the paper over it, it was to much of a contrast (see the color on the wax paper). 

Trace your letter on the scrapbooking paper, and cut INSIDE the line,
because you want it a bit smaller then the letter.
It's not important to paint the front of the letter completely, it will be covered.  Mod Podge the front of the letter, I use a sponge brush for a smooth coat.
Once you have put the Mod Podge on, carefully lay the paper on the top of the letter.
{don't do what I did, and put a 1/4 inch gap... its not so easy to peel the paper back up}
I start at the top, and rub side to side all the way down to make sure it adhere to the wooden letter.  It also helps minimize the bubbles (but if you get them, use the edge of a razor blade to 'pop' them, then push the air out).

If you have some extra over the edge, you can cut it (if your careful and have small scissors), or gently sand it off, I found that if you go from the front to the back, in only that direction, it works best, and you don't risk pulling the paper up off the letter.
Do you like my two helpers (this was the state of my coffee table for over a week with several different projects... My ocd husband was on the edge!)
This is close to the ending idea, I got these cute frames at the local Goodwill, and will do something with them.  We're going to make shelves for each of the girl with their initial and a photo. 

Join  us Saturdays at tatertotsandjello.com for the weekend     wrap    up           party!

Hello, my name is...

Hello, my name is Jennifer, and I've got a problem.

A crafting problem.

A starting-but-never-finishing crafting problem.

It's just that I see something new (crafting blogs are part of this addiction).  And then I want to do that...  so I do, but then, I see something else...

Do you see how this becomes a problem!

I'm finishing several projects (by the kind request of my husband...) so I'll be posting them up here, to share with you my accomplishments... because all that my husband really sees is a cleaned off coffee table, and a empty garage!

Friday, November 12, 2010

We're old

I remember when we were dating, we both worked from 3-11, so about midnight our night's got started, at least on the weekends.   I didn't love our late jobs, but I was in college, and he spent the morning at the gym with his room mate (which gave him the rocking body that I lusted after when I met him... hey, let's all be honest here!).  It was our life.

We would hang out with his friends, or my friends, or our friends, but we were with other people... and we would go to bed between three and four...

Holy cow, it's 9:36, and I was falling asleep on the couch... I figured I'd better write my post now, or I was afraid it wouldn't get done today.

Oh, and I jinxed it when I celebrated that we accomplished (without much drama overall) giving Autumn (the new kitty) her pain pill and antibiotics.... tonight was horrible!  But the dogs are getting more used to her, and aren't all up in her grill... they were never mean to each other, they were just VERY curious, and it overwhelmed her (not to mention she probably didn't feel great).  Since everyone had taken the anxiety down a step, we brought her out to the living room and she laid on my chest for about 2 hours tonight, just purring... I might be in love.

Ok, I'm going to bed... before 10... on a Friday night.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

One Pissed Kitty

Let me start by saying- I am NOT a cat person.

I like my dogs... big dogs.

We have a cat we got (I even picked him out) when we first were married, he was a baby.  I took care of him.

I haven't pet him in over 4 months, and then it was because Trav caught him to take him to the vet.  He's seriously psycho.  Feral even.  But we've had him since he was about 4 weeks old... it's weird.

Literally, we pay for his vet bills, buy him good food, and all we get from him is poop in the litter box.

Seriously- I got depressed when I found out it's likely he'll live for another 8-10 years... dang.

He's a scaredy cat, but loves the dogs.  He just exists in our home.  Sometimes we don't see him for days...

So-that's our experience with cats- so far.  Until about 3 months ago.  There was a cat that was outside, living in the storm drain right in front of our house.  She would come out, and we bought cheep food to feed her out on the curb.  She would come out when we were working in the yard, and we would sit an play with her.  She'd climb into our laps, and purr. 

I fell in 'like'.  I knew it was a slim chance of us bringing a cat home... but Trav mentioned that maybe if she was declawed (since we just got new furniture)  maybe.  And she had to be litter box trained.  We had a friend that is a total animal lover, and said if we would take her in off the streets- she would pay to get her declawed.  So we kept her in our garage, to keep her safe (the next door kids harassed her), and warm, and fed.  We found a good (and cheep) vet, but she had a 3 week wait.  So for three weeks, every time we left or came home, one of us would hold her, the other would back the car out and then closed the garage and go out the front door... it was a pain.

Tuesday, we took her in to get the 'overhaul'.  Declawed, spayed (but she ended up already being spayed), dewormed, vaccinated, and antibiotics for a uti.

She's puny.

Do you know how hard it is to get a pain pill down a cats throat? Damn near impossible.  And she SO does not love that coller (she chewed the glue off her paws twice while at the vet before we picked her up, once more she would have gotten stitches, so we keep it on all the time) She's happy when she's up on the bed with us, in our laps, or close to our bodies.  Or she hides in the closet under our clothes. 

Right now, my lap top is being balanced on the bottom part of my thigh, and shes between my legs, with her head up between my hands.  She's purring.  I'm in love.  Maybe just because she likes me too (unlike the other psycho cat).


Because of the UTI, we keep her close to us when she's out and we're home, otherwise she's in the laundry room on this big comforter)

She's so funny trying to drink, do you see all the water that was spilled as she tried to figure it out with the hood on!  Poor Baby!

So, we have 3 dogs, 2 cats (now), and we're trying to adopt a baby?  Are we freaking nuts?!?

My Hero

I often say that my husband is my hero, he just laughs it off. But really, he is. He signed up to do something that I never would have. I'm thankful for that. And for his family legacy that paved the way- Dad and Step Dad who both honorably served 20+ years each in the Army, a Step Mom who graduated from West Point, Both Grandfathers who were in WWII, one receiving a purple heart. They are a military family. And I love them all.


To all the veterans, thank you for paving the way for my husband and all those that are currently serving.




Wednesday, November 10, 2010

16 and Pregnant Rant

So I watch the show... its somewhat addicting.

I'm sure it wasn't a new episode, it was on at like 5:30 tonight, and I think the new ones are later... anyway, I digress.

Now, before anyone yells at me.... I am married to an AMAZING man... who was a really shitty teen Dad.  His daughter was born his senior year, he left for basic training 3 months later, and after that saw her once a year when he came back for Chirstmas.  He always paid child support, but he wasn't 'present' in her life.  Even her Mom has said how much he stepped up once I came into his life (she was 5).  She often tells their daughter that she needs to 'thank me forever, because without me, she wouldn't have her dad.'.  I'm not saying people can't change, because I've seen it happen before my own eyes.

Now:

Your baby daddy is not even 16.  He got kicked out of school at 13, so that means that he has what, an 8th grade education.  He doesn't live with his parents, they kicked him out.  But you think he'll be able to provide for you and your child, and you can buy a house in the next few years. 

Really?

Ok- Rant over.

Dog Bowl

This is our life... seriously.... with our little boy Baxter

I almsot called my husband when I saw this commercal this morning, but realized his government computer won't let him watch youtube, so he'll have to wait until tonight..

(by the way- being albe to post a video to blogger through the youtube page is wicked easy!)