A Boy's Puppy

Coco has a puppy. It's name is Puppy (really original but he named him a LONG time ago) and the boy got him when he was a very tiny baby - I think it actually came to us at the hospital.

Coco has lived and breathed Puppy for more than four years. Puppy stayed with him in his bassinet (sue me), moved to the crib and then out of the crib into my bed, then into the big boy bed. Coco loves Puppy. Puppy's got a great tag on his butt, perfect for "tickling my hand to sleep," as Coco puts it.

Puppy's been a little sickly lately. He's gone flat, and his beads have moved to various parts of his body. Something had to be done.

I'm pretty crafty, but I was extremely nervous about cutting into puppy. Where do I cut? I don't want him to fall apart later, so I couldn't cut him on a seam. That leaves his body. But if I cut his body, will the hole open up later and spill beads everywhere? So, sew the hole closed and put a "bandaid" over it. And the most important question of all...

If I do this, will Coco still love Puppy? We all know how finicky kids can be about their favorite toys. We rarely get to wash Puppy because it changes the smell of him. So, having a fat Puppy made me nervous about whether it would change things for Coco.

We talked it through, and Coco decided Puppy needs surgery to help him feel better. We got all the tools - including the stethoscope to check his vitals while he was under and the "needle" required to put him to sleep - and Coco gave Puppy a good luck hug and kiss.

I gingerly cut a tiny little hole into Puppy's butt. After using a makeshift funnel to pour stuffing beads into Puppy's arms and legs, I poured beads into his body. I followed the beads with a bit of polyester fiberfill to make him fluffy and carefully sewed the hole closed.

My hands shook the entire time.

I let Coco pick the bandaid patch I would sew on Puppy's booboo. Once he was done, I held my breath and handed him back to Coco. A few squeezes, a sniff and a tickle later, Coco pronounced him good as new. He even gave him "the biggest hug ever" and took Puppy off to play Batman.

The Butterfly Project

The Butterfly
The last, the very last,
So richly, brightly, dazzlingly yellow.
Perhaps if the sun’s tears would sing
against a white stone....

Such, such a yellow
Is carried lightly ’way up high.
It went away I’m sure
because it wished
to kiss the world good-bye.

For seven weeks I’ve lived in here,
Penned up inside this ghetto.
But I have found what I love here.
The dandelions call to me
And the white chestnut branches in the court.
Only I never saw another butterfly.

That butterfly was the last one.
Butterflies don’t live in here, in the ghetto.

Pavel Friedman, June 4, 1942
Born in Prague on Jan. 7, 1921.
Deported to the Terezin Concentration Camp on April 26, 1942.
Died in Aushchwitz on Sept. 29, 1944.

Butterflies are a fun part of summer, aren't they? Watching them flit from flower to flower - or watching your crafty kids try to catch them (usually unsuccessfully) is tons of fun. While playing around on the Web one day, I ran across this Website about some children who didn't get to enjoy the butterflies.

The holocaust was a terrible, TERRIBLE event. In movies and even during history class at school, we'd always see photos of the victims, usually skin and bones, but in all that time, I don't recall seeing a single picture of a child - save maybe one. I could be living in my little rose colored glass bubble of blissful ignorance, but I had no clue that so many children died in the holocaust.

Holocaust Museum Houston is collecting butterflies made by children across the United States until June 30, 2012. The "I Never Saw Another Butterfly" project is aiming to collect as many handmade arts-and-craft butterflies from children of all ages, for a display of 1.5 million butterflies at the museum. Rules for the project are listed here.

Feel free to do your own butterfly however you want, but I've linked below a few tutorials that I thought were beautiful:

* Megity's Handmade: Butterfly Chandelier
* Happy Mommy's Coffee Filter Butterflies
* Disney Family Fun's Butterfly craft page

All of these are great crafts for any age (the mobile would probably be better for more advanced crafters, but hey, let the kids give it a shot!) and would be great submissions for The Butterfly Project.

10 free issues of Disney Family FUN!!!!!

This is too awesome not to share. Tippr (sort of like Groupon) is offering a $10 voucher to Disney Family Fun for $5. The kicker? That's 10 issues of Disney Family Fun. And if you are a new member to Tippr, they will give you $5 to use on any purchase. So... go on over and sign up. Details below!

Go here and sign up for an account to Tippr.

Once you sign up, go here and view the deal. "Purchase" the deal, and it will show $5, use your credit and show that you owe $0. You do have to put in your credit card info, but I did it and it absolutely did NOT charge my card.

Within 48 hours, you'll get an email saying your voucher is ready! Easy-peasy! Like I said, too good not to share!

Thanks @Moneysavingmom!

Make it Monday - Travel Felt Board

We're headed to the beach soon, and I've been trying to think of things to occupy the kids on the journey. Coco has his Leapster, and we do have a portable DVD player we're taking, but I am not delusional that these things will keep the kids busy for a four hour drive.

Felt boards are always fun and can even be educational. I guess the pros would call it "open ended play" or something like that - you know, where the play can just go on and on and on as long as their imaginations will take them. Sounds good to me!

This little travel felt board was super easy to make - it only took about 10 minutes to assemble - and I can make little felt pieces to go with it to my heart's content. Best part is that felt sticks to felt naturally, so there (hopefully) won't be any frustration if Coco or Mable drops it in the floor.

You'll need:
* A photo frame (I used an old one we don't display anymore) - Take out the glass, but leave everything else
* An artist canvas to fit inside the frame
* Quilt batting the same size as the canvas
* Felt (either black or white is best) that is 1 inch longer on all sides than the canvas
* Hot glue gun
* Scissors

I'm assuming you'll use common sense when working with the scissors and glue gun, right?

To get started, lay the felt on a flat surface, then center the quilt batting in the middle of the felt. Lay the artist canvas on top of the quilt batting in the center of the felt. If you want to glue the batting on the canvas before you put it on the felt, that's fine too.

Run a small strip of glue up the side of the canvas, working at about three inch intervals, and pull the felt up and glue it to the canvas. Continue on one side, then the other (we'll do the top and bottom next).

Snip the corners of the glued felt so they'll fold in and glue flat. Once you've done that, glue the top and bottom felt to the back of the canvas, using the same technique you used above. This will finish the board.

The last step (before you make all the cute shapes and such) is just laying the board into the frame (without the glass) and secure the back onto the frame.

I used my old Sizzix to cut cute animal shapes (and grass!), but you can really just use scissors and creativity. Cut whatever shapes you want out of felt and have fun! If you try to cut felt with the Sizzlits dies (those small thin ones), you're really just going to emboss an outline on the felt, then you'll have to go back and cut the felt with scissors. The original Sizzix are the BEST for cutting felt.

Squash Meatloaf

Do you like meatloaf? I LOVE meatloaf. Since I was a little girl, I've loved cutting into a yummy, ketchup-laden loaf of baked meat. From bite one, when that deliciousness practically melted in my mouth, I've been hooked. I've had meatloaf everywhere. Cracker Barrel, various family members, other random restaurants... if meatloaf is on the menu, I'm most likely ordering it.

Out of all those meatloafs, I still like my mom's best. Isn't that how it usually is? Nobody can cook like your mama.

When I "grew up" a few years ago, I asked my mom for a cookbook of all her recipes for my birthday. She came through for me (and my sisters, because since my birthday is so close to Christmas, she just made them for all of us). She painstakingly wrote all her delicious recipes (there are tons) onto 4-by-6 index cards. She got photo albums and slipped the cards in. Perhaps my favorite part of the book is the little note she wrote me inside. I'll have this cookbook forever. It's destined to be my favorite.

Of course, one of my reasons for asking for it was to get a couple of those family favorites written down - one of which was her meatloaf recipe. I remember sitting at the dinner table, eating meatloaf with her homemade mashed potatoes, green beans and biscuits. Dinner in our family was fantastic, but that was especially wonderful for a little girl in love with ketchup. I got that meatloaf recipe and it's still my favorite.

A close second? My squash meatloaf. It's basically the same as Mama's meatloaf recipe, but instead of celery, I used celery salt and added squash. I'm sneaky like that. My family has NO CLUE I'm pushing veggies on them this summer in the form of pureed squash and other such things in their regular foods and smoothies.

The ingredients:
1 pound hamburger meat
3 or 4 slices of bread
1 small can evaporated milk
1 tsp. celery salt
3 tbsp. mustard
1/4 c. ketchup
1 package of onion soup mix
1/3 c. pickle cubes (I processed my fridge pickles from here)
1/2 c. pureed squash (go here)
1 egg

First, tear the bread up into small squares (really, just tear it up) and put it in a small bowl with enough evaporated milk to soak into the bread. Set aside.

Then, the gross part. Mix the rest of the ingredients in a large bowl WITH YOUR HANDS. Yuck. It's totally disgusting, but the BEST way to mix meatloaf. Just throw it all in the bowl, and mix mix mix. Be sure to take off your rings if you wear them, because your hands are gonna get messy.

Add in the soaked bread and mix some more. Once it's in there really good (you shouldn't be able to see much of the bread at this point, it should look like a big ol' nasty bit of meat), throw it in a 1 quart glass dish. Shape it into a loaf, or just pat it down like I did mine.

Bake it in the oven at 350 for roughly 1 hour, until the top is browned and crispy (I like mine crispy, but if you don't, just bake it until it's brown). Take it out and pour any grease off the top (if you use lower fat content burger meat, this won't be an issue). Ice it with ketchup and bake it five more minutes and you're done!

My hubby isn't a fan of ketchup like I am, so he asks me to not ketchup his half. Don't tell him I add ketchup to the whole thing. :)

Grilling Queen

Yeah, I like to grill. If you're in the south, you are probably thinking, "Who doesn't?!" I agree. I don't know anyone under the age of 70 that doesn't like to grill, or grilled food or SOMETHING.

If you like grilling just a little, or a whole heck of a lot, you should check out Barbecue Master. It's my friend and mentor Cyndi's blog about all things grilling, smoking and cooking out. There are all sorts of tips for grilling, smoking, dutch oven and pit cooking.

And if you hop on over today, or anytime before July 10, you can enter to win a whole slew of awesomeness sponsored by Cyndi, but given by the Pork Council. It's a great prize pack. You'll get:

* Guy’s new cookbook- Guy Fieri Food: Cookin’ It, Livin’ It, Lovin’ It

* Four (4) big, bold BBQ sauces featured in Guy's BBQ Sampler Set

* The ultimate grilling tool set

* Digital thermometer

* $25 gift card to purchase pork at a local retailer

What's not to like about grilling equipment and a giftcard to buy the food with?! I can think of about 5 different meals I could buy and grill (GREAT meals, not just burgers) with that $25 giftcard alone. And I'm not going to lie. I have peeked into Guy's cookbooks. I haven't seen this one, but the others... yom! There are more than 150 recipes in this book alone. Can we say EXCITED?!

Oh, and in case you want to know where to go to enter (I almost don't want to tell you because that just means I have more competition!), go here.

Spicy Refrigerator Pickles

Squash isn't the only thing you'll find in most southern gardens. Another big garden staple seems to be cucumbers. And pretty much the only two things cucumbers are good for are those yummy cucumber sandwiches at baby showers and pickles.

I started with my mom's recipe for refrigerator pickles, and realized I didn't want sweet pickles. I wanted tart and tangy. So, I made up my own. As long as you use equal parts vinegar and water (and sugar if you want sweet), these pickles are DELISH!

1 quart big mouth jar + lid (the great thing about refrigerator pickles is you can use any ol' jar, even an empty pasta jar will work)
15-20 pickles (I used more because I used a lot of the little pickles)
1/2 medium onion
1 cup vinegar
1 cup water
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon dill

Add water and vinegar to a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add salt, crushed red pepper and dill and boil for about 10 minutes. While that's boiling, cut up your washed cucumbers into spears, slices or whatever. Slice your onion, then cut the slices in quarters. Layer the pickles and onion in your jar, packing them in as tightly as you can get them.

Cool the boiling mixture and pour it into the jar full of cucumbers and onions. You'll have some liquid left over in the pan, as well as crushed pepper and dill. Don't worry. That's OK. Close the jar and shake it up a little bit. Turn it upside down a few times and re-open the jar. Add some more of the liquid, because that shaking allowed the liquid to settle a little bit.

Put the jar in the refrigerator for 5-10 days and then enjoy. I made them four days ago and couldn't resist a sample. They are GOOD.

These will keep for up to 3 months in the fridge. This makes some pretty spicy pickles you probably won't want to feed your kids. If you want pickles for your kids, leave out the crushed red pepper and substitute it with a cup of sugar, a teaspoon of mustard seeds and a teaspoon of celery seeds.

Squash Smoothies

Oh. How. Delicious.

And sneaky!

Enjoy this super easy recipe to use with your summer squash puree (here ). And stay tuned for MORE squash puree recipes.

Ingredients

1 cup squash puree
1 container yogurt (I used strawberry)
1 cup juice (I used pineapple)
1 cup fruit (I used bananas)
1 cup ice (4-5 cubes if not crushed)

Add everything to the blender except the ice and blend. Add the ice and let the blender to its work.

Pour into a glass and enjoy.

Summertime in the... city? (Making squash puree to last through the winter)

I'm a country girl. It's not a secret that I ran around in my undies during the summer as a kid, shucked more than my share of corn and didn't care if I had dirty black feet.

I miss the country. Now I live in the city, and let me tell you... it's a MAJOR adjustment. Even eight years after leaving the country, I still miss sleeping with the windows open to hear the frogs and crickets. I still miss the smell of cut grains. And I REALLY miss my momma's cooking.

Yesterday, I drove with Coco and Mabel out to my brother's house. They've planted a HUGE garden and graciously allow the family to get what they want. And it's right across the street from where I grew up, so DEFINITELY gives me a little taste of the country even when I live in the city, with neighbors practically up my nose and music blaring as cars fly up and down the street.

While there, I picked a ton of squash, and my sister-in-law picked me a bag too! Yes, I came home with TWO bags full of squash. NO way my little family of four will be able to eat all that squash before it goes bad, right?

Wrong.

I use squash in a million things. The kids get it in smoothies - little buggers just THINK they aren't eating their veggies - and I even made a squash casserole yesterday. And I STILL have squash leftover. Part of it will get sliced and frozen as is, part will find it's way into fried squash at dinnertime tomorrow. The rest? It was made into a squash puree that will get used in homemade chicken nuggets, cakes, smoothies and more.

Make squash puree:

Wash and cut your squash into cubes and put it in a pot. Cover with water and bring to a boil.

Drain and add your squash to the blender. Blend until smooth.

Allow squash to cool and measure into 1 cup servings.

Separate your puree into freezer bags. Get out as much air as possible and close. Don't forget to mark the serving amount and the date.

Freeze flat like this so you can store it easily without taking up a lot of space in the freezer. Use the best freezer bags you can find. The squash will keep in the freezer like this for six months in good freezer bags. In cheaper bags, it'll only keep for about 3 months.

Coming in the next few days... recipes using squash puree. :)

Wordless Wednesday ~ Strawberry farmer for a day

Mother of the Year

My friends and I joke a lot about the Mother of the Year award. It's a coveted award in our circle apparently, usually going to the mother (we're all moms of babes born in October 2008 and I wouldn't trade them for anything!) that has done something completely brainless, or something she'd never normally do (yell at the kids, etc.).

I've claimed this "dishonor" a couple of times, usually for dinners (tonight it was fried Spam and mac 'n cheese) or just completely losing all patience with the kids and having to remove myself from the room.Or maybe, like the time shown there ----> Coco and I were playing and he fell and cut his head open on the hearth. I glued it shut with some Band-Aid type stuff. MOTHER OF THE YEAR!!!

I didn't learn this behavior from the real mother of the year. My mama (though there was that time I cracked my nose open on the heat vent jumping on the bed with one of my older brothers and she taped it shut with a butterfly bandage, because apparently that's all they would have done at the hospital anyway). I can't imagine growing up in a better world with a better role model than that woman. After 10 kids, my mama would have a major excuse to lose patience every now and again, but I seriously do not remember EVER being yelled at for something that I totally didn't deserve. And it's a great mother that can teach their kids to stay on the straight and narrow, seemingly without lifting a finger. I NEVER did anything I thought I would get in trouble for if I was "busted" because I didn't want the wrath of dad, or the disappointment of mom.

So, this mother's day, thank your mama. She deserves it. I'll be thanking mine. She was much better at this than I am, and I routinely go to her for advice. Think she's tired of it yet?

Life Happens

Seriously, life happens when you're busy not paying attention. I've been so stinking busy lately, I've not had a chance to do ANYTHING ~ especially post on my blog for all three of my followers. But one thing I have managed to stuff into a busy day is a little bit of Etsy-gawking and a LOT of Tosh.O after hours (aka, after the kids hit the hay). So, for your viewing pleasure (and if I can get the video to embed, because this will be my first attempt at such), some awesome Tosh-ness.

Coupon WINNING

Couponing at Walgreens today was a total win. I was too late for the "free" Colgate toothpaste (my Walgreens was out, but it's $2.99 and you get $2.99 in register rewards [free money] to use on your next purchase) because they were out of it, but I did score the 6 pack Scott paper towels and Gilette Fusion ProGlide razor cheap - which was what I went for. The razor, Wonka bars and Aleve is going in hubby's Easter basket.

Here's a quick summary of today's trip:

* 6-pack Scott Naturals paper towels - $5 - $1 Walgreens in-store coupon - $1.50 mfg coupon (@ www.coupons.com ) = $2.50 (that's 50 cents per roll!!!)
* Gilette Fusion ProGlide Razor - $9.99 - $5 mfg coupon + $4 RR
* Aleve 50 count - $6.79 - $2 mfg coupon - $3 Walgreens in-store coupon = $1.79
* Wonka Exceptionals - $2 each/on sale 2/$3 - $1 off two mfg coupon - $1/1 Walgreens in-store coupon x2 = Free
* Scott Package tape (2 rolls) - on sale 2/$3 - $1 Walgreens in-store coupon - $1 mfg coupon = $1 for two!!!

After the register spit out my $4 register rewards, I used those to get a pack of BOGO Walgreens brand Magic Erasers.
* Walgreens Erasers - $3.99 - $4 RR = FREE

If I hadn't had Mabel with me, I could have gotten by even cheaper, because she was intolerable for that sidewalk chalk and the suckers!

It's Official

I have a diva. Mabel  went shopping with her auntie yesterday and came home with this ensemble. Included... velveteen pants, sunglasses and nothing but PINK clothes. Oh well, at least she's cute. In other news, she was ready 15 minutes before either Coco or myself, and stood waiting at the door for us to get there. 

In other news I sold a pink tutu on my Etsy. Once I figure out how to do the whole "etsy mini" thing, I'll put it on the side of my blog so you can go get stuff, but in the meantime, if you're in the market for tutus, bows or felt food, head on over to http://www.thetutupalace.etsy.com.

What's in a blog?

How many times have I published a blog out there in blogosphere, only to quit after a month or less? Not this time, dangit. The problem before, I think, is that I wasn't really committed, nor was I all that interested in what I was writing about. Now, I'll only be writing about what interest ME - crafting, teaching you to craft, couponing, getting some really sweet pictures of your kids, local travel and the such.

Sounds like pretty much anything right? RIGHT! That's the point. I'm interested in writing about everything. My kids, Coco and Mabel as you'll know them, are the best things that could have ever happened to me. I have never been happier - my husband and my kids complete me completely. Wow, that's redundant.

While you're waiting on my next stunning post of relevant information, feel free to check out the blogs I follow. There's a reason I follow them. ;)