Halloween. Angry Bird Costume.

Andrew wanted to be an Angry Bird for Halloween this year. He specifically wanted to be the black bomb bird. I looked at ordering a costume online and the cheapest I found it was $85 - about $40 more than they regularly sell for plus the one he wanted was all out of stock.

Knowing how wonderful the internet can be, I just googled "Angry bird costume tutorial" and found a couple of good blogs that inspired me to make my own. I decided to use fleece since it wears well, can be washed (unlike felt) and is warm in case Halloween was a cold one this year.

We went to Hancock's who happened to be having 50% off fleece and was able to buy all the materials we needed for $23. I just cut out a large half circle when I folded over the fleece. Then I cut out another circle using that one. I used the same large circle to cut out two pieces of white cotton for my lining and again using the large circle I cut two large circles out of batting for the stuffing. I took printer paper and drew the face, cut it out to see how it fit and then used it as a pattern to cut out of fleece. I did end up using fabric glue to glue on most of the face pieces.

I think the total costume construction took maybe two hours. I worked on it two different days. I did work on his hat a separate day - just used scraps to sew a hat with the feather sticking out. I wasn't pleased with the hat but Andrew liked it. It was something that taught me what to do or not do in the future. (Like I know I'm going to be sewing more hats with long things projecting out of them. LOL)

When Andrew had his Halloween party at school he didn't want to wear his costume but did ask me to bring it. He finally decided to put it on when I brought it out and asked if he wanted to wear it. He was happy he did as *all* his friends thought it was cool and was going on about it. It has been quite a while since I have made a Halloween costume but I think it turned out great.

For Andrew's 4th grade class Halloween party I bought the supplies to make a craft I had seen in a recent Family Fun magazine. One thing I goofed on was that I couldn't find any of the off-brand wide-mouthed jars so I had to buy the Ball brand. Well, I didn't think about the word "Ball" that was embossed in the glass and may mess up the effect. We rolled with it though and no one seemed to care or notice.

One of the parents brought a game to play with Jelly Belly jellybeans. The kids would take turns flicking a spinner and whatever color it landed it they would have to pick that color from their pack. The thing was they didn't know if the black color was licorice or skunk spray, if the brown was chocolate pudding or canned dog food, if the green was juicy pear or booger, etc. Isn't that nasty!?!? Here are some funny pictures I caught of the kids (and teacher) during the game.

Soon all the partying at school was over and we were home, had eaten dinner and were ready to go trick-or-treating in the neighborhood.

Jeremiah has gone with the kids for the last few years. He soon arrived to go with us.

Daisy thought she wanted to go with us.

Andrew was over pictures obviously. ;)

It was hard to get clear pictures at this point with the sun almost set but here are a few more. Did I ever mention what a workout we get walking around our neighborhood for Halloween? Lots of steps and hills. :)

We went to Uncle Steve and Aunt Jeanette's afterwards for our traditional after trick-or-treating get together. They always have fun goody bags for the kids and snacks for all of us. Fun day!

Hope everyone had a fun Halloween!

Life in Fourth Grade.

Fourth grade has been a new experience for Andrew. Well, really, every grade is new and challenging in its own ways. Last year was a wonderful year for him. He loved his teacher, had a good year getting along with his friends, and made wonderful grades. I know the friend scene is still great this year, but I'm not so sure with everything else. The homework, while not what *I* would consider ridiculous, has been an area of contention for my dear boy.

However, he recently had some praises from the teacher which has helped to perk him up. Last week there were a couple of days he was especially just over it. In fact he said he couldn't wait until he was a grown-up so he didn't have to do homework. I carefully explained that being a grown-up had a whole other list of "homework" he would have to do at the end of full day at work. So he changed his wish and decided he wants to be home-schooled next year. He thinks the "being done with schoolwork at noon" will be all he wants in life. I hope his outlook changes.

So back to the praise from his teacher. On Friday he came home happy (not only because he knew it was a three-day weekend with Labor Day but) because his teacher had asked him and another student in the class to read their spelling paragraphs they wrote using their spelling words to the class because they were so creative. They had a specific topic, "Why We Should be Paid to Go to School". Here is his (even with his misspelled words which I corrected at first but then decided to leave "as is" for memories).

I would like to tell you my scheme of why we sho[u]ld be payed to go to school. Here are my resons - because we have to attend we have to get up on cold mor[n]ings no ma[t]ter sleet, rain, or snow we have to come. And the theme this year is pirates and they have lots of money so I think that we should get paid money. And that is my method of why we sho[u]ld get paid. And one more thing, we get feeble after a long day at school.

Wade had him read it to us Friday evening. The praise of his new teacher was like "chicken soup for the soul". A soothing balm on a raw sore.

He received more praise this week for another project, an animal classification flipbook. I emailed his teacher to let her know I appreciated her praising her students since it came at a much-needed time last week. She replied back, and this sentence was one I had to share (as a bragging parent, I can't help it): "He is very talented and I am blown away by his creativity."

I shared the above short snippet of our life, because I came across the paper while cleaning up the kitchen. I wanted to record it before I threw it away and the memory was lost.

Now, off to finish picking up where a small tornado must have come through . . .

First Day of School.

I sorta cheated this year. And I didn't even have to tell you that. But I am honest. And I tattle on myself when I do bad. (Just ask Wade.) LOL Of course this is not bad. I took the kids' first-day-of-school pictures on the day BEFORE school.

You see, every year the kids get up and get ready pretty quick because of the excitement of starting back and we usually have time to take several pictures outside before leaving. However, the "sleepy" eyes are unavoidable. It's before 7 a.m. and they are not used to getting up so early. They haven't been up long enough for their poor eyes to open all the way. So this year, I decided to remedy it.

It worked!

Elizabeth picked out these teal leopard print shoes to go with her shirt. Wade couldn't believe she wanted them and that I was willing to get them for her. She is so not into fashion so if there is something she wants that is halfway stylish I am so for her getting it. If she finds out my weakness in the coming years then I may be in trouble. The funny thing is that I saw at least two other girls walking out of the school in the Converse-style shoes on the first day.

Taking pictures in the middle of the afternoon was so easy. Everyone was in a good mood. No one felt rushed (including me). The clothes were ironed and ready for the next morning too!

Hope everyone's kids are enjoying being back in school like mine. For now.

FREE Audio Book & eBook Resource.

A state-wide spokesperson is what I should be for the Tennessee READS site. I mean, come on, it's a FREE resource that most people do not know exists. I felt I should have a completely separate post on my blog just for it so people will understand what it is and how it works. If you do not live in my state, it may still apply. Go to www.overdrive.com and do a search with your zipcode to see if there is an area public library that offers this resource.

What is READS? It stands for Regional eBook and Audio Download System. It's FREE as I stated above. It's a resource offered by the state for those with membership to a public library.

How to use READS (Quick Start Guide). To checkout and download, you need:
1) A valid TN public library card (for our site but there are other states that offer this site for their patrons)
2) Internet access
3) A computer or device that meets the requirements for the type of material(s) you wish to download
4) The free software (called Overdrive Media) for the computer or device on which you'll use the material(s) available on the READS site

So I've installed the software and checked out my eBook or audio book. Now what?

eBooks - You have two options for the type of file you can check out: EPUB or PDF. If you have a Nook then you will want the EPUB files. Why? It seems the way the books have been converted for this file format makes them flow smoother. For example some books are only available as PDF and the ones I've read that way may have the page number for the book in the middle of my screen. (For example, it may say "page 43" even though my Nooks says I'm on page 56.) As I stated though not all books (last I checked) come in both formats, some do but some may come in only one or the other. If you have the option to choose, choose EPUB.

Audio books - After I've checked out and downloaded several audio books (this downloading can take some time if you checked out long books), I immediately hook up my mp3 player to my computer and transfer them to it. (I use a Creative Zen I bought four years ago just for this purpose after reading many reviews.) The site has a link with all the supported portable devices whether you're using your mobile, mp3 player, eReader or computer.

We have an AV input outlet in the car so I can hook my mp3 player up and listen to the audio book through the speakers. The kids and I have listened to almost 100 audio books in the car and I've listened to way over 200 myself (counting theirs). I listen while they are at school using a portable speaker that runs on batteries that I bought at Wal-Mart a few years back for $20. It follows me around the house while I dust, fold laundry, mop, wash dishes, etc. It makes doing housework so much better! (Sometimes I fold very slowly because I don't want to stop listening. Ha ha!)


Things to Know!

CHECKING OUT PERIOD - When you "checkout" these audio or eBooks, you are only allowed to use them for a certain amount of time. For audio books, you can pick 14 or 21 days. For eBooks, you pick 7, 14 or 21 days. For audio books I usually pick 7 days and immediately transfer it to my mp3 player where it stays indefinitely (until I delete it from my mp3 player). On my Nook I usually pick 21 days unless I know I'll be able to read it quicker - depending on if we are going on vacation and I know I will have time. They DO expire and will not open after this time period.

PARTS OF BOOKS - The audio books you download are divided into parts. Each part is usually around an hour to an hour and 15 minutes long. A book that is around 400 pages will have usually around 10 parts. A book that is around 200 pages will probably have 5 parts. The reason I bring this up is because on my mp3 player, I bookmark where I'm at in the story but often if I turn my player off then when I finish that part it doesn't go on to the next part and I have to look to see which one I was last on and go to my menu to get there. I'm not sure if all mp3 players do this or just mine. It doesn't do it unless I switch to another book after I've listened to a different one. (I usually have two audio books going - one for me and one for the kids.)

TRANSFERRING eBOOKS TO NOOK - There are lots of sites online that will explain this and probably better but here's the basic instructions.
1) Make sure you have Adobe Digital Editions on your computer. (It's free.)
2) Open the program THEN plug your Nook into your computer and authorize it. It basically does it on its own once you plug it in if I remember correctly.
3) Unplug Nook and close out ADE (Adobe Digital Editions).
4) When you checkout an eBook, "open" it instead of choosing "save". It will open it in the ADE program.
5) With ADE open, plug in your Nook (also known as side-loading).
6) Your Nook should appear under "Bookshelves" on the left side.
7) Drag the book(s) you want to transfer to the Nook on the left. It's there now!

If the book will not open on your Nook and comes up with this message "User not activated" then follow these instructions.

RECOMMENDATIONS? - Glad you asked! :) If you join Good Reads which is a free online book community where you can record, rate and review books then you can find all the audio books we've listened to there. If you do join then you can decide if no one sees your profile or everyone. They have great privacy options. You can find my profile on the side of my blog under my links or here.


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I hope I have covered all the audio and eBook questions that I had in the beginning. I wanted to have this post available for friends and family when I share this great resource many of us have to use. (Everyone in my state!) Enjoy and let me know if you have a question!

Football Time in Tennessee. And Time for School!

Look what I have in my house now.

Andrew was SO excited about TACKLE football. At least he was until his first practice, a few days after this photo was taken, when he had to wear what you see above in 90 degree weather for two and a half hours. Yeah, the coaches overdid it. I wonder if they were trying to prove a point. He came home hot, exhausted and overwhelmed with what the season was going to hold for him. In fact, he told Wade, “I’m not going to play next year.” (See, he knows once he starts he has to finish but he wanted it known he wasn’t happy about it.)

But by the end of the day he was excited again and looking forward to his first game where he could knock someone down. (Not sure that’s going to be all he’s hoped for when the time comes either.) He wanted to go back outside and throw the football some.

Aren’t we like that a lot of the times in life? We get all excited about something and then when reality hits of how much energy or time (or money) is going to go into it, then we feel defeated.

There are a lot of quotes that we hear that go along that line but I think most of them originate from Booker T. Washington when he said, “Nothing every comes to one, that is worth having, except as a result of hard work.”

Verse 4 of Proverbs 13 says, “The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat.” Yeah, nothing worth having comes easy.

Now where’s my verse of inspiration for the fact that our house has officially entered football season. Three days of practice for now and then we’ll have two nights of games soon enough which I am afraid will be on school nights. Waaah!

I wanted to also share a picture of a paper that hangs from Andrew's bulletin board in his room. He made it last school year around the beginning of October. It was a front page of a newspaper that described each student. Wow, his handwriting and drawing has improved, thankfully!

"An important event in my life is football because you get to knock people down and if you win or lose you can still be happy because you get to touch people but at school you can't touch people. Oh, I about forgot you can also get flags and if you get flags then you keep the other team from getting a touchdown."
[I'm pretty sure he wrote that as one sentence; I didn't see any periods except the one. The English major in me made me correct the misspelled words. It's hilarious though and makes me wonder how much aggression he needs to get out on a daily basis. LOL]

Elizabeth was jumping up and down today when she realized it was two weeks until school starts. I have to say that days like today make me look forward to it too. The kids have always got along easily with each other, but the last two weeks I have been beside myself with how to reverse this bumpy road they are going down that will lead to an unacceptable conclusion.

To get ready for the start of school we still need to do a few things - buy first-day-of-school outfit, get school supplies, etc. This was delivered for Andrew last week.


He has looked forward to getting a rolling backpack for a few years now. Probably since Elizabeth got hers. Maybe the new backpack will make him anxious to use it, as in going to school!

DIY Projects. Fabric Flowers & Phone Stands.

When you get caught up in blog-hopping, time can pass quickly and inspiration can make you wonder if you'll ever get any cleaning done. Honestly though, I routinely set inspiration aside because my guilty conscious of being a good housewife takes over and I know I must wash laundry, vacuum carpet, polish mirrors and cook dinner. However, I do like to copy and paste all these great tutorials I find into Word and save in a folder I call "Sewing Projects". Many of my documents don't fall necessarily under that category but most of those tutorials do have to do with fabric.

Back in May I finally bought some fabric for a particular project I wanted to try. Here's the tutorial I found online for Hair Flowers. My intent wasn't for hair flowers. I have a daughter that while she's not a tomboy, she's not a girly girl. So my intentions were to make them for us to have as brooches and to attach to a headband or whatever if needed. This was purely an exercise. An experiment. ;)

Here is what I did.
I cut several haphazard circles/ovals and used a lighter to curl the edges. With the fabric I used I did not have to touch the fabric to the flame but just close to cause it to curl.


Going through all my drawers of blingy supplies in my craft room I found some rhinestones. I cut a small circle of felt to sew on the back of the stacked fabric circles just using a few whip stitches.


Then I hot glued the rhinestones on.


Simple. Fast. Pretty cute.


Next time I want to layer it more. Next time I want to make it bigger. Next time I'll try a different fabric. Next time I'll mix fabrics.

It served my purpose for whipping it up back in May. Elizabeth's fifth grade was celebrating Mount Olympus Day. She was going as Andromeda and needed a way to fasten the silky aqua fabric over her sundress without an ugly safety pin showing. This little flower worked great.


All the fifth grade chose a Greek mythology character to dress up as. They decorated large panels which they stood up around the middle of the gym in a large circle. The other grades came in and listened to the fifth grade tell stories of their character and they passed out a token to each student. Elizabeth gave out small glass gems to represent the sea where she was chained by.


On to my phone stand or caddy or whatever you want to call it. Cord hider. In this post I showed the CD basket I bought on clearance with intent of spray painting it to go with the phone, hide the cords and go more with the kitchen decor. (Not sure where the phone was in the before picture. LOL)


It's still not the ideal phone look I had wanted. But really, does it exist? I would like some classy, small, black wood stand or shelf like thing that has a drawer to hold our cell phone chargers. The drawers would have openings in the back where the cords go through to be plugged. Until I find one or until I build a house that doesn't have an ugly phone jack coming out of the wall so high up then this will do.

One last picture of something I did for the house. I had bought these prints to go in my dining room for only $10 each but they had antique brass frames. I did not want that color for my frames but black to match the room. I covered the glass with newspaper using painter's tape and spray-painted them.


Yay! I love poppies. And I love cheap decor.

Performing. Oliver. Teacher Gifts.

I made an executive decision not to do chore charts this week. The kids backed me 100%. They like earning the money but we need a break. The funny thing is they still have to do 1/3 of what's on their list to do each day (practice piano and brush teeth) but they're up for bypassing the cleaning of the bathrooms, bedrooms, etc. With all the drama practices, voice group lesson meetings (six in two weeks), football practice and games, etc, we are needing some rest.

Last night was Elizabeth's drama performance, Once on This Island, Jr., a Broadway musical junior version. Last Friday was her voice recital. She sang "All I Do Is Dream of You" from "Singing in the Rain" and did a fabulous job.

Yes, I know I'm partial to her but she was in tune, enunciated well, sang with feeling, and didn't mess up. To think she's been taking voice lessons for three months! All the voice students sang a group song too ("Good Morning" also from "Singing in the Rain). She still has a piano recital this month, a talent show at school, and she's going to play a song in the fifth grade Sunday school department for all the kids.

Our airfare is bought, hotel rooms are reserved and a rental car is secured for my and Wade's trip in less than a month! Unfortunately, we are not going to Ireland (we won't even go into my feelings about that but I am resigned to the fact and am excited about this trip) but going to Santa Fe, New Mexico instead. I'm not a beach destination vacation kinda girl with my history. I wasn't really interested in a cruise this time. I wanted something romantic but adventurous and historical too. I did some research and Santa Fe seemed to fit the bill. I can not wait!

Meet Oliver, our newest family member. He's a Pacman frog, aka Ornate horned frog.

Yep, I did something I never thought I would - get a frog. Annnnnnd, I'm considering letting Elizabeth get a gecko in the coming months. She has to prove she will hold one first. LOL She's always been fascinated with lizards and snakes (we ain't doing snakes people!) so we'll see if she can meet that first requirement.

Andrew's third grade teacher has taught the class so much about frogs, lizards, worms, crickets, etc this year as they have all of them in their class as pets. Andrew started off wanting a bearded dragon and has been saving his money but after we did some research and I learned they grow to be around two feet long, I said no. I have said yes to many things I never thought I would, but I have to put my foot down sometimes. I'm already dreading the day our little Oliver grows big enough to eat, *gulp*, pinky mice. I know, ewwww! We are already having to have small crickets in our house for his twice daily meal. Yes, I currently have around 20 crickets in my house. My Nice. Clean. Home. (Add to that the frog itself all the fish in Elizabeth's room and I may just pass out if I dwell on it too much.)

Other things we've been up to . . . I helped last Friday with a local Habitat for Humanity House. I manned the chop saw (miter or circular saw) to cut all the boards for the men. All that stuff my daddy taught me came in handy. I was quite proud, I have to say! I am going back two more days to help and I hope I get to do it again. (In all honesty, it beats hammering for several hours which I am not good at and I know will make muscles I never use hurt! So yeah, call it laziness.)

Teacher Appreciation Week was last week so being a member of the PTO and a parent who tries to show appreciation for the teachers, I helped plan some things for the teachers and also made some treats from the kids. I got these ideas from others' blogs. The cupcake in a jar was my favorite! Apple Caramel - yummm!

Treat Jar (for Andrew's teacher)

Tea-rrific Teacher Tea Bags (kinda cheesey I know but it was a simple, cheap gift for the teachers the kids don't have every day - Library, Art, Music, Spanish and P.E.)

Skip to My Lou has LOTS of great ideas and tutorials on things like Teacher Appreciation Gift Ideas. Go take a look!

I was a "good girl" yesterday and got a lot of house cleaning done so today I let myself do some blog-hopping which I have not done in ages. Weeks at least. Here are some fun things I found and wanted to share.

Popcorn in a Bag (Do-it-yourself microwave popcorn!)

No-Sew Fabric Flowers (This are seriously cute and easy too. I want to make one or two this afternoon!)

After the storm that moved through our area last night, I'm going to enjoy this beautiful day!

7 Happy Things.

On Tuesday I had two biopsies at the dermatologist. Yesterday I wasn't feeling up to par after a bad night's sleep (partly because of the stitches and partly because Wade was having a rough night from a cold). After a nap that morning I felt better. The sun was shining, the day was warm (67 degrees!) and I saw several things that made me happy. I grabbed my camera to remember. :)

1. Last week my order came in for new 12x12 prints to go in my bedroom. I am happy to have new updated in these frames. I took two of the photos and a local photographer took the other two late last summer. My problem for taking so long was because I needed to find a place where to order that print size (for a good price). I found one!


2. Also in the same area in my room. A book on touring Ireland.


Yep, we are tentatively planning to go to Ireland this summer. "We" meaning Wade and me. It's to celebrate our 15 year anniversary. I was working on those plans yesterday too.

3. Flying Pigs? Also known as "Pigasus". Hee hee. Don't they make you smile? They do me every time I see them. I bought the iron one last year - found it online while shopping clearance items and for some strange reason really wanted it. The glass one I asked for from Wade for Christmas. I had seen it in the Pier 1 magazine.


4. Because I was getting a biopsy on my leg which meant stitches, I knew I would not be able to get a pedicure for a while. When I've had biopsies in the past the spot is usually tender for several months. My feet were in need of some work though so I ran into a local nail salon Tuesday morning to get one done. I'm enjoying the OPI Candy Apple Red. Bright red makes me feel HaPpY! (Yes, I know I have tadpole toes but after over two decades of hating them, I have accepted them and moved on. Doesn't mean I won't give you a look if you say something about them though. LOL)


5. A bike on the trapeze bar = TRICK BIKE. I don't think this is what you normally think of when you hear "trick bike". My brother got an expensive Mongoose trick bike when we were kids. He could do all that twirling and whirling and wheelie stuff with it. Andrew can too and he doesn't even ride it. ;)


6. Just when I thought my blog post list would be five items my smart girl brought home her midterm yesterday. Not only did it have all As but her language arts teacher wrote "very creative with poetry!". You know that made me happy and proud having my degree in English. I've wrote quite a few poems in my day . . .


7. And because six is not my favorite number I couldn't end with that number so I had to find something else. Can you see the contempt in this cat's face? LOL She's one of those kitties that give all the others a bad name. Nah, really she can be sweet but just when you think she's going to rub up against you one more time, she'll bite your foot. She makes me laugh. That's our Daisy.


When a December recap post pops up soon don't be confused. I was trying to catch up from the last few months and that's my last month to highlight. ;)