If Davy Crockett used woolite

perhaps his coonskin hat would have been a little fluffier :)

Apparantly January is a popular time for coonskin hats, as every Party City I visited was sold out. And who knew that Michael's no longer carried the fake fur stuff? Enter a marabou animal print boa, a felt hat, a glue gun and some hairspray....

And he's king of the exotic frontier !

Sunday Synopsis

The past week flew by, and I didn't always find time to blog it. But since tonight finds me propped up waiting for some painkillers to kick in, here's our week in review :)

Monday- Recovering from a house full of people and a queso overload had me moving at a sluggish pace. I'm sure the tequila sunrises didn't help me in greeting Monday morning either :)

Tuesday- I set a personal sleep record, going to bed at 4:30 (I swear it was just supposed to be a quick nap before Crossfit!) and not getting out of bed till 6:00 the next morning. Sometimes a girl just needs her sleep to re-focus.

Wednesday- The young un's birthday. I had to make up Tuesday's missed Crossfit workout, and be pro-active for the cinnamon rolls I would consume during birthday dinner. He chose CiCi's (but only because I put the kibosh on Burger King) and loved having the entire staff sing Happy Birthday to him. And check out the extra icing!

Thursday- I'm going to be honest and say that I don't remember Thursday. Elm and Cedar must have had their planets aligned because I could not breathe for the later part of the week. Even the short walk from the parking lot to the car had me gasping. I swear my students must roll around in the pollen before they come inside.

Friday- Friday was all about red. Go Red for Women is an organization that supports the fight against heart disease in women. Feb 6th was "Wear Red Day", but since I'm limited to school colors on Fridays, I did what any girl would do... I got a fiery red pedicure :)

Saturday- I was itching for some craftiness, so I conned a friend into a soap making adventure. I read Kelly's tutorial here, and, inspired by her colorful hearts, hit up the local Michael's for all my supplies. Through some trial and error, we eventually made our way through 7 lbs of glycerin. Two things became quite clear (get it-- became clear---we were using glycerin?hahaha!): 1. Freezing the soap makes it impossible to cut with a normal cookie cutter, and 2. silicone ice cube molds are my new BFF. Don't these look yummy?

We packaged them up for teacher gifts and I mailed a few off for some sweet little Valentine treats.

Sunday- A little more craftiness- magnets, handmade valentine's, frames-- but no pictures cause they got boxed up before I thought about it. A little laundry, some groceries, and a little time on the heating pad while watching the Grammy's rounded up our weekend.

Just a little head up, the wonderful girls at SITS are having a bedroom bliss giveaway. It's just what you need to give your bedroom a fresh new start! And Sweet Jelly bean is hosting a messenger bag giveaway from Satchel Studio. So much cuter than my black "teacher" bag!

Siw Word Saturday

Is it Saturday again?

Elm and Cedar are killing me!

I have tried all the OTC stuff, bought tons of local honey, sprayed the nose (which makes me gag!) and I still wake up feeling like a Mac truck hit my face! Grrrrrrrrrr

To play along with Six Word Saturday, visit Cate here.

Flashback Friday

Peach Parade 1983

Nifty Nine

Happy Birthday Young un!

In honor of your 9th birthday, here are 9 things I love about you:

1. Your thirst for knowledge, from dinosaurs to airplane exit strategy.

2. Your ability to make friends in any situation.

3. Your adventurous spirit.

4. Your mad ninja skills!

5. Your delight in the simple pleasures.

6. Your thoughtful spirit.

7. Your rock-ability.

8. Your love for animals.

9. Your infectious laugh.

Hope today is all you hope it will be. I love you!

It's why I teach

Didn't you want a pony when you were little?

Mario Mayhem

This weekend seemed like one non-stop party. I truly feel like I have a queso hangover today. It started Friday evening with my attempt to create a Super Mario themed birthday cake for the young un. We searched on-line for inspiration and finally settled on this:Being realistic, I knew that I would do better with a cake, and that it was for a bunch of 9 year olds, so perfection wasn't in the future. But, my experience as a baker/cake decorator did not give me much confidence going into this fight. Armed with the Mr's Mactop, 2 boxes of fondant and a box of food prep gloves, I started my fondant battle.


It was actually easier than I thought it would be, a lot like playing with clay. I had a pretty rhythm going that lasted right up to my busting open the buttercream icing box. Then my progress came to a screeching halt. Let me just say that the cleaning ladies had done a wonderful job on the kitchen which I promptly negated with the powdered sugar butter combo. I was so glad the Mr was already in bed and could not witness the mess I created.

Once the icing issue was cleaned up, I was pretty pleased with the results.

I will admit that Mario intimidated me and I chickened out of doing anything more than his hat.

At midnight, I threw in the towel and waited for the arrival of our weekend house guests. If you know anything about traveling with kids, it's that they will sleep on the drive and be wide awake when you reach your destination. This was the case with our house guests. Two of the young-un's friends from Louisiana were wide awake when they arrived shortly after midnight. The adults? not so much.

Saturday started way too early with the boys throwing stuffed animals from the loft bed. It was all we could do to get to the birthday destination without drinking. Luckily, the party included lots of "wear them out" activities, like

The adults decided to try out the arcade while the kids were in laser tag, so we grabbed our game cards and let loose. Papaw spotted the motorcycles and tried to plead his case for a Harley.


After Laser Tag and games, the kids devoured pizza and cake while I pouted over the destruction of my creation.

A few more arcade games and I was waving the white flag in surrender. Main Event+ 9 year old boys+ Saturday afternoon= 1 bottle of wine/tequila/rum.