Valentine’s Dinner

What’s the perfect Valentine’s dinner to you?

Roses, french restaurant, a quiet atmosphere, candles?

Well, for this momma who has finally gotten sick after playing nurse to her kiddos for the past three weeks, this was the perfect Valentine’s night….

At home with pizza, hats, and presents.

Dinner with Davey Crockett….

Dinner with Snow White…

 Dinner with Harry Potter…

Dinner with…the ice cream man

Dinner with…a ZZ Top fan…I’m warning you this is a sick looking lady

Opening milk straws and books from mom and dad….

Yep, that was the perfect Valentine’s for me this year.

Krewe de Mac

Our Mardi Gras party was this past weekend and I think it was a big success.

I’ll share more on it later but thought I’d share the door wreath I wiped up a few days before the party.

I took a foam wreath and …

1) glued burlap strips around the entire wreath
 
2) cut mardi gras beads once and glued the strands on as I wrapped it around the wreath
 
3) printed out a, “Krewe de Mac,” sign and laminated it
 
(Since I didn’t want to put our actual last name on the wreath I used a nickname version of it)
 
4) glued four small strands to the laminated piece and then glued those to the wreath
 

I chose to use purple and pink beads instead of the typical Mardi Gras colors of green, purple, and gold, since our party was right around Valentine’s Day.

Mardi Gras is exactly a week away – hurry up and go order your king cake!

I’m a Slow Learner

First it was this…

Then this…

And then this…

I am obviously a very slow learner.

Is anyone else spending a fortune on products which are supposed to last for 52 uses but you only get one use since your two year old considers them shower toys?

Flat

Have you ever been so focused during a diaper change that while scrubbing the poop off your child’s behind you fail to realize you are flattening them like a pancake until they yell out, “Mommy squish me!”

 No?

Me neither.

Adorable Baby Items on Etsy

I have a new nephew who was born this week.

While cruising etsy yesterday I found many adorable gift ideas for the little guy.

Have a look…

Adri’s Adorables – $6

Pepper Pony – $20

Angie Baby Gifts – $18.50

Announce it in Style – $15

Love MK Boutique – $56

Lisa Corinne Handmade -$38

Apple Blossom Print – $23

Busy Beez and Chickadeez- $15

Smc Classic Designs – $7.95

Southern Sassy Pants – $39.50

Mateo & Tobias – $15

Aren’t there some amazingly talented artists out there!

Any one of these items would make a wonderful gift.

Welcome to the world Connor Thomas!

My Son Said It

What I thought was just being tired from visiting with a friend turned out to be pneumonia today for my 9 year old.

One trip to the doctor’s office, one trip to the lab for blood work, one trip to the hospital for x-rays, one drive thru trip to McDonald’s, a second trip back to the doctor, and finally a trip to the pharmacist resulted in two very cranky children.

Just like them, I was tired and a bit frustrated while trying to get dinner made.

Little did I know that right after dinner we would all be laughing uncontrollably.

My nine year old was recalling for my husband how he had blood taken from his finger earlier in the day. “I even had the finger prick. That’s the most painful way to give blood.”

My husband said, “Well, I think giving blood intravenously would be more painful.”

With a scrunched up face my son said, “Intrapenisly?”

We all started to chuckle.

“No, intravenously is usually through your arm.”

“Oh, because I was thinking intrapenisly would really hurt.”

We all lost it at that point.

Of course, things quickly went downhill when our six year old had to stand up and demonstrate what giving blood intrapenisly might look like (with his clothes still on, thank goodness).

What’s the worst part of this?

For the next twenty years we will never be able to go to the emergency room with each other for fear that we will burst out laughing while the doctor is giving orders.

Winter Reading

I’ve completed a little winter reading and thought I’d share a few of my favorites.

The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton

From Amazon: For thirty-five years, Frankie, Linda, Kath, Brett, and Ally have met every Wednesday at the park near their homes in Palo Alto, California. These “Wednesday Sisters” seem to have little in common: Frankie is a timid transplant from Chicago, brutally blunt Linda is a remarkable athlete, Kath is a Kentucky debutante, quiet Ally has a secret, and quirky, ultra-intelligent Brett wears little white gloves with her miniskirts. But they are bonded by a shared love of both literature and the Miss America Pageant, which they watch together every year.

As the years roll on and their children grow, the quintet forms a writers circle to express their hopes and dreams through poems, stories, and, eventually, books. Along the way, they experience history in the making: Vietnam, the race for the moon, and a women’s movement that challenges everything they have ever thought about themselves, while at the same time supporting one another through changes in their personal lives brought on by infidelity, longing, illness, failure, and success.

I loved this book and stayed up late several nights enjoying it. Although set fifty years ago, the mothers in the story struggle with some of the same things women struggle with now.   These ladies made me smile. If you enjoyed reading Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons, The Wednesday Sisters will be right up your literary alley.

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

From Amazon: Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells—taken without her knowledge—became one of the most important tools in medicine. The first “immortal” human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb’s effects; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions.

Yet Henrietta Lacks remains virtually unknown, buried in an unmarked grave.

Now Rebecca Skloot takes us on an extraordinary journey, from the “colored” ward of Johns Hopkins Hospital in the 1950s to stark white laboratories with freezers full of HeLa cells; from Henrietta’s small, dying hometown of Clover, Virginia—a land of wooden slave quarters, faith healings, and voodoo—to East Baltimore today, where her children and grandchildren live and struggle with the legacy of her cells.

This book, which had been on my reading wish list of months, was a Christmas gift. Several friends recommended The Immortal Life for various reasons but it was the social history sections I found most fascinating. I would definitely recommend this book but needed to take one star away because for me, the medical jargon and history was tiresome to read at times.

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars.

The Alphabet Sisters by Monica McInerney

From Amazon: As girls growing up in Clare Valley, Australia, Anna, Bett, and Carrie Quinlan were childhood singing stars known as The Alphabet Sisters. The unbridled enthusiasm of their flamboyant grandmother Lola was the glue that held them together. As adults, though, the women haven’t spoken in years–ever since Bett’s fiancé deserted her to marry the younger Carrie. Now Lola is turning eighty and she is determined to reunite the girls for a blowout bash. And no one ever says no to Lola.

Bett, who fled to London after the scandal of losing her fiancé, is hesitant to face her sisters and her hometown–especially since she has yet to find another man. Sophisticated Anna, the eldest sister, isn’t too keen on the prospect either, though she’s secretly grateful for any excuse to leave her crumbling marriage behind in Sydney. And Carrie, who remained in Clare Valley, is perhaps the most apprehensive. Her marriage–the nominal cause of the sisters’ estrangement–is also on the rocks. Was she wrong to have followed her heart and run off with Bett’s fiancé?

When Lola shares her special request, that the girls stage a musical she has written, their short visit becomes a much longer commitment. As they are forced to spend more time together, the sisters must confront the pain that lingers between them. Preconceptions and misunderstandings are slowly put aside and the three find themselves gradually, irresistibly enveloping one another once again–until an unexpected turn of events changes everything in ways none of them could have ever imagined. . . .

Layering the lighthearted antics of small-town life with a heartbreaking story of loyalty lost and found, The Alphabet Sisters is an unforgettable story of two generations of women who learn that being true to themselves means being true to one another.

I loved this book and I’m not ashamed to say it made me cry. Okay, I might be a little ashamed but it really was a wonderful read. Lola turns out to be a spitfire of a grandmother, guiding her granddaughters into many “opportunities” they would certainly bypass if not for her.The relationship between Lola and her granddaughters makes you want to move to Australia and be part of their family. I highly recommend The Alphabet Sisters.

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars.

Have you read anything good lately?

Just a Little

Not much of a post today….Started the day with one kiddo with a runny nose like a faucet…..Game of Oceanopoly and Don’t Break the Ice…..Put some frames on the wall…. Hot Dogs and Chips during the Super Bowl….Kids got to decorate their own slice of cake with icing and sprinkles….Now have another kiddo sick from staying up too late at a friends house the night before…Hope you enjoyed the game…Be back tomorrow.

Storybook Valentines

While the Angry Bird Valentines I made for my boys are great, they weren’t really appropriate for my 2 year old.

So…I made Storybook Valentines.

All of her favorites characters are here.

We taped a silly band bracelet to the back of the card and called it DONE!

If you’d like a copy of these valentines,click here.

If you decide to download, please consider becoming a follower of Big D & Me.

Bedroom Pillows – It’s Love, eh

One of my January goals was to make pillows for my bed.

My biggest hurdle for this project was the fact that I knew I had to change the sewing machine needle before I started this project. Sounds easy but to someone who had never attempted to change the needle I was terrified. I didn’t even look at the manual because I just knew it would be difficult. I bought the fabric to make these pillows way back in September so that was a lot of stalling on my part.

But guess what?

It was easy. I’m talking 10 seconds easy.

So here’s the final look…

In case you don’t know, I’m married to a Canadian and there’s quite a bit of “eh” going on around here. I kept asking him, “Doesn’t it need an exclamation point or a question mark?” My husband insisted it wasn’t necessary since, “We use eh for everything.”

Here’s the run down of the pillows:

3 Large Pillows- Annie Selke Fabric – Seema/Oxford Ivory/Raspberry

(Our bedroom wall is the same light blue/gray in these pillows)

2 white pillows  – I bought two king pillowcases – I put them on our wimpy standard pillows and wrapped the remaining fabric in the back – I will need to get the proper king sized pillows for these someday.

2 Pink Swirl PillowsAnnie Selke Fabric – Scramble Raspberry

1 “Love, eh” Burlap Pillow – burlap on front, Annie Selke on the back

I first taped off a section on the burlap and drew my words on with a sharpie.

Next, I went over my letters with black fabric paint.

After humming and hawing for awhile about the next step, I took the extra tape pieces off the sides – in other words, I made a rectangle of tape but didn’t take a picture.

I now had a perfect rectangle shape to follow when I free handed a rectangle with my white embroidery thread. I double the thread so it would be thicker throughout.

Here’s a fuzzy shot of the embroidery thread.

And the final products once again.

Now onto the bedroom lamps!