Valentine's Wreath

 I figured it was time to take down my evergreen Christmas wreath. It happened when I was driving home from picking up one of the littles, and was laughing to myself at the people who still had Christmas decorations up. In my head, I KNEW they must be trashy, ya know?

Fast forward to pulling into my own driveway and realizing, "OH CRAP! I've still got Christmas decorations up! Look at the wreath on my door!" You know what that makes me, right?

Really frantic to fix this problem.

Luckily, it didn't take too long to fix. I ran to the Dollar Store and picked up a wicker wreath frame (the one I picked up was 9 inches) and then the stash of fabric scraps I already had. It's easy-peasy lemon-squeezy to make. Just cut the strips about 1.5 to 2 inches wide, and 12 inches long. I used some satin, but most of mine were cotton, and those were SUPER easy, because you can just make a notch, then tear them (you can't tear the satin). Gives them a cute, frayed look.

Tie those beasts all around the wicker base, scoot them close together real tight like I did in this picture and viola! Valentine's Wreath and no more trashy folks living at my house.

I think it turned out cute and the whole thing took me less than an hour. Whatcha think?

Happy New Year, y'all

I'm not doing resolutions this year. Not happening. We all know what happened last year when I did resolutions. It's just not something we should rehash this year, right?

Instead, I've made a couple of goals. Goals are much easier to keep. My biggest goal is regarding my health, which is fine now, but could take a turn at any time because I'm overweight. Not morbidly obese, but on my way to it. So, this year, I've decided I'm going to train for 5Ks in January and run one a month for the whole year. So, 11 5K races. I won't promise to come in first or anything like that, because we all know that's not happening. But I figure if I can train and run in 11 5Ks, I may just lose 20 pounds. Which is what I'm shooting for. Let's start with 20 pounds, see how that goes and work our way down from there, mm-kay?

Other goals are tied into two main things - being a better wife and mom and building a stronger family. We're pretty darn strong as it is - can and have survived almost three years of unemployment, bickering, kids, living in the world's smallest house ... But anything can get better.

This year, we're planning on cleaning out our attic and turning it into a third bedroom/playroom for Coco. He and Mae have been sharing a room and at almost 6, he's ready for his own space. When it's mentioned, the topic of his own room always causes excitement. Right now, the hubster and I share 750 square feet with two young 'uns and two cats that like to fight. Constantly. The kids and the cats. The attic is walk-up, so converting it will give us an additional 150ish square feet. Pretty awesome and should only cost us about $1,000.

Along with the converted room, we're also planning a trip to Disney just for us. The hubster and I went for our honeymoon and it was awesome. Then a few years ago, we took the kiddos with his mom and stepdad. This year, we're going to do it just us and the kids. We've never actually taken a vacation just us - someone has always been there to kind of help with the kids. Shocking, I know. We're pretty darn lucky like that.

I'm not doing a garden this year. It never lasts until the end of the season, mostly because I forget to water it, feed it, pick it, etc. Pretty much the things you're supposed to do for a garden. Instead, I think we'll do this. Pretty cute, right? The kids will get a kick out of it, and we can always go smaller than she did. Who knows? Maybe fairies will come.

Lastly - and I know this one will thrill the hubster - I think I shall craft more. I miss it.

So, what are your goals this year?

What do you do when the kids aren't home?

Yeah, so it's not a great picture, but you get the point. The kids are headed to their Maw-maw and Granddad's house this weekend (it's over the river and through the woods) and I am afraid to send Norton over there for fear that Sunday night will roll around and we'll realize we left him and someone will have to make the hour trip over to get him.

So, instead Norton made these awesome felt stockings/sleeping bags for each of the Twins. The Twins will be making the trip to the other side of the river and even wrote this note for the kids:

Take us to Maw-maw and Granddad's house when you go,
That way we can make sure that Santa's "in the know."

When you've been good, there's fun to be had,
But Santa will not bring gifts if you are bad.

We're not going to move or do funny things,
We'll just tell Santa when you've been DINGA-LINGS!

Love, The Twins

I think it's pretty darn cute, and the kids will be thrilled when the wake up. They can touch the Twins, since they don't do reporting most of the time and they won't be moving around and doing mischief over there. They'll get a kick out of being able to cuddle them at night, I suspect.

Naughty Norton

The kids have an elf. You know, those creepy little elves that are supposed to hang out in a different spot in your house every day, checking up on the kids before reporting back to Santa each night. Our elf, Norton, is something else though. He isn't satisfied with playing hide and seek throughout the house. He has to create havoc.

Norton started out tame enough. Hanging from a sign, playing around on the mantel, etc. It didn't take long before he got into mischief though. He tried to climb down from the mantle using a slinky and got all stuck and stuff.

After that, it was game on. Norton (who I keep calling Barney because that was the name of last year's elf that's no longer with us, something for another post) has been "ON" almost ever since. Sure, he has nights where he's pretty tame, but a vast majority of the time, he's quite devious. Take, for instance, the night he decided to hang underwear on the mantle instead of stockings. He left a trail of underwear across the house and even The Twins (two other little elves that visit for some fun) got in on the action. As you can see, they're either laughing or covering their noses from the stink of the kids' underwear.
That was pretty funny, I'll admit it.

And some of the things he does are pretty awesome, like when he wrapped the kids' door or when he made snowflake ballerinas and hung them from the living room ceiling fan.

We really love Norton around here (mostly, because I'm sure Daddy could do without some of his little messes, but he tolerates them because the kids get a kick out of him). Most of all, the kids like that every night, he carries their behaviors (both good and bad) back to Santa at the North Pole. Then he comes back home and creates some little bit of mischievousness for them to find. I love it, because it gets them out of bed in the morning without much cajoling at ALL on my part. Pretty awesome.

Whatever happened to Barney?

Last year, Santa sent Barney to keep an eye on the kids. He did more to make a mess than keep an eye on the kids. But he was an awesome elf.

So, when Norton came this year, the kids were curious. Norton had come last year to try to teach Barney how to be a better elf after the incident with the flour on my counter, but ended up learning a trick or two from Barney. They wanted to know, "What happened to Barney?"

Barney wasn't an "authentic" Elf on the Shelf, simply one I had gotten in some vintage ornaments I got from my mom's house, I think. Along with those, I had gotten other elves, including Norton, who actually LOOKS more authentically Elf on the Shelf. And I picked up the Elf on the Shelf book from Goodwill for $1, so I didn't have to spend all that money on the Elf kit.

You see, what actually happened was on Christmas morning last year, I realized that I had forgotten to put Barney away. He was SUPPOSED to ride back to the North Pole with Santa on Christmas Eve. Momma forgot! He was still in his spot from the day before when we were getting ready to get the kids up for morning festivities (aka trash the living room) so I grabbed him and threw him upstairs into the attic. I went up later and put him on a shelf. This year, when I went to get him on Thanksgiving night, I realized I had put him on a shelf right next to a window and the sun had faded our dear Barney!

So Dearly Departed Barney has been relegated to an inner branch of the tree, to keep an eye from afar. The kids don't know he's there, simply that Santa decided he created so much mischief last year, he sent Norton this year. Who is doing a pretty darn good job of creating mischief all on his own.

Well... it's been awhile

New Year's Resolutions - HA, I laugh in the face of New Year's Resolutions. Apparently, I made some resolution to blog regularly. We ALL see how that turned out. I haven't posted since February.

Oh, don't get me wrong. I've THOUGHT about blogging. I've had great ideas for blogging some things. But then I'd psyche myself out and think, "Oh, it's been too long." Then I'd see other people blogging about stuff a month or more older and think, "Oh, maybe not." But by then, I didn't have time, and welllllll... you get the point. Excuses, excuses. Much like that resolution to lose weight. Something always came up (usually my weight!).

Just to get you updated, a TON has happened since I last blogged (besides German Chocolate Brownies which happened a lot).

In March, I got an ACTUAL, real, career-type job. I got back into the career world! Part time, but it works out PERFECTLY for me, since I have Coco and Mabel (who both also celebrated birthdays since I last posted so they're now five and four respectively). I now work at Cooperative Christian Ministry in their Development Department. I handle our donor management and public relations. We do some pretty awesome stuff there including emergency and transitional housing for homeless individuals and families, run NUMEROUS food pantries and mobile food pantries, and offer financial assistance to folks to help them get back on their feet through rent/mortgage, utilities and even medicine.

 

Over the summer, we went to the beach. That was a lot of fun. My mom and a couple of nieces went with us and we got some great pictures and wonderful memories. Plus I got to wear a really cool bathing suit that I was comfortable in, something that doesn't happen too often.

Then, the biggie. COCO STARTED KINDERGARTEN! Seriously. KINDERGARTEN. I cannot say enough how amazingly scary and sad this was. But so exciting at the same time. So weird. How can something be scary and exciting and sad at the same time?! But it was. My baby boy started school! Real school, not preschool. I cried, of course, and took the whole day off. It didn't take long for me to get used to it though, because within the first month, I had already forgotten to pick him up from school and slept late, making him tardy. Alas, I started setting an alarm on my phone to pick him up and making sure I get up the FIRST time my clock goes off in the morning.

When did my baby get so big?

Then there was Halloween:

 

Batman and Cinderella!

 

And Thanksgiving:

 

My whole beautiful family

And now, Christmas:

 

Even though this was the day before Thanksgiving!

 

Like I said, it's been a busy year! Thankfully, I will have more time to blog because I'm giving up my job at Target this year. My last day is TONIGHT! I'm excited to spend more time with the kids, do things on the weekend with my little family and yes, even blog more. So stay tuned!

German chocolate... brownies

Yes, you read that right. I made German chocolate brownies tonight. Much like the German chocolate cake (my absolute favorite birthday cake), these rich brownies are coated with a coconut "frosting" making them nice and rich. I didn't step-by-step photograph what I was doing, but they are super easy to make and this was the end result:

Looks tasty doesn't it? Trust me, it is. Now you want the recipe, don't you? Well, I won't make you wait.

German Chocolate Brownies
For brownie:
1 c. butter
1 c. sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2/3 c. cocoa powder
1 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda

For frosting:
2 c. coconut flakes
1 c. brown sugar
1/2 stick (1/4 c.) butter
1/4 c. evaporated milk

In a large sauce pan, melt butter. Stir in sugar, eggs and vanilla and blend well. Remove from heat and add cocoa, flour, salt and baking soda. Again, blend well until there are no flour-y lumps. Grease a 9-by-13 inch glass pan well and pour batter into the pan. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes or until a toothpick insterted comes out with a few yummy crumbs (they'll be fluffy and perfect, trust me).

While the brownies are baking, mix your frosting ingredients well in a small mixing bowl. Remove brownies from oven and "frost" (it's not going to spread that well, use small spoonfuls and try to smoothe them out best you can) the brownies. Turn oven to "broil" and sit frosted brownies about 4 inches below the coil for about 3 minutes. You don't want to burn the frosting, so keep an eye on it!

Let them cool, cut them and you're done.

NOTE: Coco likes his brownies without the frosting, so I actually frosted half of the brownies and left the other half unfrosted. Not a good idea, because the broiler kind of burned the top of the unfrosted side. If you do this, you'd do better separating the brownie batter into two separate pans. I'll do that next time.

Calories: About a million
Makes: Around 12-16, depending on how big you cut them (as you can see, I got about 12 out of my pan of brownies).

Discovering play

The kids like to play. When we woke up this morning, I was dreading what was coming - I had told them I'd take them to Discovery Place Kids in Huntersville. I was looking forward to going to the museum, touted as "an adventure in play," but I was worried that if we went, they'd get sick from that norovirus going around. I REALLY can't deal with that. Yuck.

After giving them a choice - do you want to play Wii all day or go to DPK - Mom was outvoted and we got going. It's not too far and we had gift certificates from Mawmaw Jackie and Pop we had gotten for Christmas, so all I'd really be out was lunch money.

For $8, kids can play all they want in a variety of different areas at DPK, all following the same theme of "I CAN." Kids can be a doctor, vet, go shopping, work on a farm, play on stage, build, play in water and more. And this day, it was also HAT DAY! Had I known, we'd have probably worn one of the million funky hats we have here (I'm sure Coco would have LOVED wearing his Capt'n Hook hat), but it was OK. The kids got to make their own hats there. Don't tell them the feathers I added look like Pimp caps. I thought they were HILARIOUS and some of the looks I got from other parents made me think they thought they were too.

The kids had a blast in all the different zones of the kid friendly museum, but I think their favorite area had to be the water zone. I base this on the wet shirts we walked out with and the huge grins on their faces. Sure, there were waterproof aprons there, but what's the fun in that?! In the car, the were able to take off their shirts and put on their zipper hoodies, so no one was the wiser.

And when we got home, and they insisted on playing Wii, guess who wore their pimp hats the whole time? It was definitely a fun time - one I would have gladly paid for had we not had the gift certificates. When they run out, I'm sure I won't mind paying. The kids didn't even realize they were learning. That's always fun!

Wordless Wednesday - Oh my GAG!

Yes, this is how I found her the other morning - eating butter from the fridge.

Wild about tutus

Lately, everyone has been all about the tutu. They are sooo cute in those newborn little girl pictures, and quite honestly, the big girls like to wear them too (I know I did at Halloween when I dressed up as a La-La-Loopsy).

I've gotten out of the tutu making business, and I still get requests for tutus. Well, how about this? I'll just give my tutorial away. It's much easier to just follow the tutorial I developed rather than me try to explain how to do different things with the techniques. But, I'm not going to make it SUPER easy for you. You're going to have to do something for me too.

To get a copy of my awesome tutorial, you're going to do three things for me. First, follow my blog. Second, follow me on twitter @JoanieReeder (if you hover over my name and click the link, it'll take you there). Lastly, leave a comment on this blog letting me know you've fulfilled those two requirements, along with your Twitter handle so I can follow you as well, and your email address. If you think your friends would like a copy of my tutorial as well, please PLEASE feel free to share my blog with them. I'll give away as many tutorials as I get followers and likes - I am NOT limiting this giveaway to only a select few. EVERYONE will get a tutorial, as long as you do what I asked. :)

TIP: When you leave your email address, write it as username AT domain DOT com. Don't actually use @ and . because then the spambots will find you!

I'll email tutorials out at the end of the next week (Feb. 10, 2012) so you'll have plenty of time to make cute red and white, or red, or pink, or whatever tutus for Valentine's Day! Don't forget to share it with your friends!

Brick fun

Coco has really been getting into LEGO lately. And when I say LEGO, I will make my friend Katie cringe, because I mean pretty much any brick that will fit onto another brick. Sure, a vast majority of our blocks are LEGO, but there are Mega Blocks and K-reo mixed in too (especially with that K-reo deal last week where I got an Optimus Prime building set FREE, wootwoot!).

At almost 5, his creations are pretty much limited to either really short, easy directions for things (like the LEGO Harry Potter mini set we got him after Christmas for $2.50) or his own creations - which usually are blobs, but I love to hear him describe what everything is and what it's used for.

Even Mabel gets in on the action - her daddy bought her the first of what I am sure will be MANY LEGO Friends sets. The child is only 3, so of course Mommy ended up putting that one together for her to pull apart and ask to be put back together. I guess she'll get it eventually.

LEGO is great for the imagination. Kind of like Play Dough but with corners. We are in no way, shape or form LEGO experts (like this guy), but it's still fun to pretend we are. The greatest thing about LEGO (aside from all the other cool stuff about LEGO) is that they do that free LEGO Club magazine. Coco has a subscription. Every month, he sits with his magazine, thumbing through it for ideas, and even asking if we can submit pictures to the My Own Creations section. Usually, the magazine comes with a comic book - another obsession of the kid. And it's all totally free, something you can't say often about LEGOs.

We got his first LEGOs from Goodwill - I spent all of $2 for about 500 random blocks. Then I got another set of around 300 (mostly Mega Blocks, sorry Katie) at a consignment store for around $3. Our initial investment was all of $5. If you are a fan of LEGO, you know that's CHEAP (practically FREE in LEGO terms)
- but have no fear, we've spent plenty of money since then on various sets. Pretty soon, we'll probably take him up to the LEGO store at the mall and let him pick out some stuff. His birthday is coming up after all.

Coco modeling his LEGO Batman PJs in a self-portrait

Wordless Wednesday - I want one PLEASE?!?!?!

I know this is supposed to be WORDLESS, but honestly, the writer in me screams at such a concept. I found this little shack on Pinterest, and the first thought that popped into my head was, "Wouldn't that be perfect with a computer, couch and fire?" I could clearly see myself cuddled up on the couch, reading a book, or writing my book.

This picture inspires me. How does it inspire you?

So... What do you think?

Along with posting more, I thought I'd try to make my blog a little "prettier." I wonder if I've succeeded.

I asked for the wisdom of some very smart people and searched around on the internet for free blog templates - because no matter how much I love my eight followers, I'm not paying someone to design a blog for me. Sorry guys.

I found this one. Doesn't look like one I've seen a lot, or some generic blogger template so I thought I'd take it for a spin. I don't like how the link for where I got it is up in the left corner, so if anyone has suggestions on removing that, I'm all ears. I did have to tweak the font size on the posts, because it was just as big as the blog description (that quote at the top). CRAZY big.

As easy as this was, I wonder why more people don't have pretty blogs, and sit with their boring blogs? Is there something I'm missing there? I just like a more visually appealing site, I guess.

So, back to the main question. What do you think? See something you like? Something you think needs changed (and you want to tell me how to do it)? Comment and let me know!

Welcoming 2012

It's 2012.

Did I seriously write that correctly? I had to go look at a calendar the first time I wrote the date. It is really 2012!

Yes, yes it is. And for your viewing pleasure, a little resolution humor I found on Facebook.

Honestly, looking at that, I found the reason I don't really "do" resolutions. But at the same time, isn't the new year a great place to start over? Do something you haven't done before? Take a chance?

Resolutions are sooooo last year. That doesn't stop me from thinking of things I can do this year, ways to start fresh.

I will be the first to admit, some days I wonder if I should take the Worst Mom/Wife/Person of the Year Award. This year, I think instead of thinking that way, I will think of ways to make myself a better wife. A better mom. A better friend. In some ways, this involves improving myself. The way I eat, how much I exercise. Even how much time I spend on the computer.

I will give the kids childhood memories that are worth remembering - not ones that I hope they forget. All stay at home moms know the stress of raising your kids. That time you yelled at them, then immediately thought, "Shoot. I hope that one doesn't stay in their little memories forever." This year, I'll do my best to remember they are kids. Cut them a little slack. That doesn't mean I'm going to let them run roughshod around the house naked, disrespect people, act like total hooligans at the store or willfully disobey me. I will teach them that they should act in a way that makes not only their parents proud, but makes themselves proud. They SHOULD be proud of themselves. But I'm not raising brats. But I'm not going to be so uptight about things.

Lastly, I will blog. Doesn't everyone say this? Then February rolls around and you go check a blog and it's not been updated. I'm not making set goals for how OFTEN I blog. But I will try to update at least once a week. If I don't, no biggie. But No more of this six months between posts crap. I love my five followers too much for that. So, you'll hear about triumphs, struggles, fun crafts and more this year. I'll try to update, even if it's a short sentence or two. But most of all, you will get substance. It's your time and I'm not wasting it with posts of no value.

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.