2 Clever Blog

The Best Nest part 2

Hi Think ::

Look what I made today.  I felt the need to make something creative last week and forced myself to make it today.  Here is what I used (almost all from Michael's)

Artichoke
Red Mum
nest
plastic eggs (I want to come up with something else to put in there or at least paint them teal blue)
ribbon (mine is all from the ribbon outlet, but you could find good stuff at Michael's too)
brown glass crystals that I bought for 90% off at Target last Christmas (you can't really see them in the photos but there are 3 of them on the bottom.

I drilled a hole in the artichoke and strug the ribbon through it.  I took apart the red mum and strung it through the ribbon then glued the center of it down and the strung the nest through and gave it some hearty glue as well. 
I made a double looped bow with the large black and white ribbon and used a thumb take to stick it to the bottom of the artichoke as well as the little amber colored crystal like things. 

I love how it looks.  Whatcha think?

Pink ::

House Shopping

Think ::

So how did the popcorn scrapping go??  Did you get my message about watching a movie while scrapping so that it might make the popcorn more enjoyable?

I feel bad that we are both probably so stressed out right now that we really are of no use to each other.  Over my way our family talks of moving everyday but we still don't know where and now new avenues are coming our way and I say "talk to the hand" because the last thing I need right now is more options.  Agh!

So to help me fall asleep at night I play this make believe  game called, "I have a ton of money and am decorating our new house"  (who knows where that new house is)

So what I do is go on different websites and find some great furniture.  Then I go to Craigslist and see if anyone by chance is selling that same item for really cheap.

Here is a dream couch I found that I LOVE and hope to some day at least sit in to see if it is as comfortable as it looks and claims to be.  It is from Wisteria and almost $3000.  A girl can dream right? 

The above top photo is an awesome planter that I LOVE.  (also from Wisteria)  It is is much more in Mister Pink's budget but don't know how he would feel about me buying a planter at the end of summer. 

I am really in love with this rug from Ballard Designs but it only comes in orange.  Great print though

 

My therapeutic furniture hunt kind of got started from seeing this storage system in one of the 14 homes we visited with a Realtor a few weeks ago.  I feel kind of funny taking photos of someones home and putting in my website, but I am hoping you may recognize where this is from.  It looked amazing in their family room and held all their kids stuff so well.  I loved the diagonal shelves.  So if you have seen this before let me know.

Today is the last swim team practice and tomorrow is Divisionals.  My oldest Pink is trying to break the pool record and is less than a second behind to do so.  Keep your fingers crossed.   

Enjoy that popcorn!

Pink ::

If I were a mystery, this would be my title....

Hi Pink::

Actually this is a real mystery novel Killed By Clutter written by Leslie Caine. She writes mysteries dealing with interior design. I got it at my Book Club book exchange last Christmas. I wanted it so I could frame the book cover because it is so my life right now. (Okay, who am I kidding.... my life all the time) I'm just keep asking myself over and over, where did all this junk come from as we try to get this house ready to sell.

I'm about to unplug my computer for awhile to shave some popcorn. Don't know what that means? Consider yourself lucky! For some reason in the 70's it was the "normal way" to finish ceilings in homes by spraying paint with added bits of foam (i think) so it looks like a vat of cottage cheese.

Whose brain child was this? I'm sure it was lovely when it was first done but after a few years it starts looking pretty bad. We have removed it in almost every room of our house except two. It is not hard exactly, just really, really, messy. We were hoping to make it out of here without having to do those last two rooms. But after our meeting with our real estate agent she told us we really did need to take the popcorn ceilings down. The last rooms are the laundry room and....wait for it.....my office. Ahhhhhhh! We have been avoiding it for 5 years. All those books, art supplies, papers, files, the equipment, all the projects I really will do someday. Nightmare. And so it has begun. I'm looking around thinking there is no way this house will be ready for an Open House in 10 days.

So after reading all that whining I thought I should share something clever to make it up to you. Maybe you do this already but it has been so helpful to us when we travel with our Little Think. In the past I would pack her suitcase and then 10 seconds later she will have pawed through it and everything was in a jumble. I have started packing her outfits in slider ziplock bags. The entire outfit for the day– underwear to socks to hair bows each in its own ziplock bag.

I know its not too "green" but I save the ziplocks and use them over and over for as many trips as the slider thingy will continue to work. I love holding up two bags and asking if she wants to wear "this or this" and then tossing the bag of her choice to her and out she comes in something that says "I have such a good mom – look how cute and coordinated I am while visiting extended family we hardly ever see so we have just one outfit to prove that."

At least that is what is says to me.

Not exactly sure what it will say to the monkeys jumping into your car on your next European adventure next month...

Off to chant my mantra of the day "Cottage Cheese Free is the Way to Be" while 30+ years of gunk falls on my head and I lose all feeling in my arms and fingers.

This house better sell for a million dollars :: Think

It is coming

Think::

I know you are as happy as I am to see all the school supplies hitting the shelves.

Pink::

Military Discount

Think::

As we are still trying to decide where we are moving. (scratch our conversation from the other day, things have changed) I keep looking up what type of flowers I will be able to plant in that part of the country.  I put hydrangeas as a must plant.  I have this long list of trees and plants I can't wait to start planting in our forever home. 

This photo above  is the USDA Cold Hardiness Map. 

"Cold Hardiness zones are based on the average annual minimum temperature in a given area of the country, with USDA Zone 1 being the coldest at minus 50 degrees F and USDA Zone 11 the warmest at above 40 degrees F.

Each of the map's colored zones is separated by 10 degrees and broken down into subzones A and B, separated by five degrees. To use the map, simply locate your area and then match up the corresponding color on the map with that on the legend."

Lowes has this great spot on their website where you can punch in your zip code to see if the plants you want will survive in your area.  

I am giving Lowe's a great shout out because yesterday I went to buy some new mums to start planting for fall.  When I pulled out my photo ID to use with my debit card the lady said, "Oh you are active duty military - there is a military discount."  What???  I was so excited and then went and grabbed two more pots because they were so cheap.  Thanks Lowes for supporting our military!

Pink ::

If anyone knows of any other great military discounts out there, I am working on a post to spread the word of those who give out discounts to families currently serving.  So tell your friends and email me with any other great suggestions.  pink@2cleverblog.com  Also if you have a small or large business and would like to offer a military discount that I could tell the world about let me know.

Beach Report

Hey there Pink ::

I'm trying to come back to reality after a wonderful week at Hilton Head last week. It was soooo relaxing. I was still recovering from my Swine Flu so I really took it easy. Only down side is I didn't pull out my camera very much which I am now regretting. Didn't even take the traditional writing in the sand photo.   I KNOW! Interesting that we didn't have cell service so we all just put our phones away which was good except for the no blog posting part. Helped me realize my iPhone and Facebook addictions are still alive and well. ha!

This year for Mr. Think's family reunion we rented a house right on the beach. In years past we have been a row or two back. It was perfect for his Grandparents who are in their nineties to sit on the deck and see the ocean. I loved being able to lay on the beach and send Little Think back to the house for potty and/or snack breaks. The constant ocean breeze really helped with the heat too. Especially for those family members coming from non-humid lands. It felt like Autumn to us coming from our 105 degree oven called Texas. We some rain most days but it was a good way to get the kids inside before they had completely worn themselves out. And it made it exciting to figure out what evening to take our family photo. Oh how we needed my Weather Bug app!!! We have rented houses on North Forest Beach area of the island from a company called The Vacation Company for 10 years and been very happy. I recommend them. Luckily his entire family can stay in one house so it makes it pretty affordable once we divide the cost up.

This year we tried "real" long board surfing. (Notice the real is in quotes...) I had done it a long time ago in a body far, far away. Figured the tiny waves would be kind to an old creaky body that grunts when it gets up off the floor, let alone popping up from a moving surfboard. I don't think I embarrass myself too much.At least there is no photo documention to prove it. Little Think was an natural until she had a wipe out that bonked the board on her head. Now she is not too sure she wants to be a professional surfer after all.

We did make it to The Salty Dog. Oh my....those Hush Puppies were to DIE for. I determined right then and there that I could live on them for the rest of my life. Thanks for the heads up. Also made it home with a book, stuffed Jake dog, and t-shirt combo. I'm such a sucker. We had a nice "adults only" upscale dinner out at a place called Red Fish. Very nice. You know it is good when a non-fish-eater like me orders fish and loves it! I even ate lobster. (It had been deep fried and I never turn down anything deep fried...EV-ER.)

It was Mr. Think's parents 50th Wedding anniversary while we were there so I made some iron-on tshirts for everyone. I'll try and post a tutorial for them tomorrow or at least by the end of the week.

Our Real Estate agent is coming over tomorrow to look at our house and tell us how much we should list if for. Please say a little prayer for us. We have put so much blood, sweat and tears in this house along with a whole lot of cold hard cash. I'm afraid if the number is not what I expect I may flip out. Is that why they call it "flipping" a house because it makes you flip out? Interesting.

No longer at the beach.  (Literally or figuratively) :: Think

Don't feed the monkeys!

     

Think ::

So hang in with me on this long story,  it has a clever idea at the end I promise. 

The past two summers we have hopped free military flights over to Europe.  A nice military benefit we get because of Major Mister Pink and his job in the  Army.  Being free made taking three little kids easier and two of them were even in diapers.

The first summer we got to the airport and were lucky to get to Germany, which was our plan.  Yet when we got to Germany we then decided to find our way to Italy, France and Austria and Switzerland.

Then last summer we planned a big trip all through Italy.  The girls watched movies about Italy and we did a ton of research.  When we got to the airport the flight we wanted was canceled so we hopped on the next one (a 5 minute decision) that was going to Spain. 
It was not till we were over the Atlantic  Ocean that we looked at a map to see where we were landing in Spain.  It was no where near where we thought.  So our Italy trip went fast out the window and we now were asking the other 10 people on the KC10 refueling Jet anything they knew about what to do in Spain. 

One of the pilots told us to go to the Rock of Gibraltar, but to watch out for the Monkeys.  We seriously thought he was kidding.
We spent 2 weeks in Spain, Portugal, Morocco and did find our way to the Rock of Gibraltar. 

We made it to Gibraltar and the rock looked just like I had imagined it from growing up seeing it on all the Prudential life insurance advertising.  (did you you know that was the rock?)

Anyway we drove on the island and then I started asking the locals what to do and what we should see.  A tour guide who was taking a break from his tour told us how to drive to the top of the rock.   He then said, "if you see any monkeys make sure you feed them"

So we then drove up to the top in a spiral like fashion on these small little roads.  We saw monkeys' everywhere, 2 yards  from our car. 
So Mister Pink told the girls to throw a pretzel out there.  (this was the monkey).  So they threw out their pretzel and in a flash of a second this is what happened.....

he jumped in the car! Of course I grab my camera first to take a photo.  (yep mom of the year - NOT)  After the photo he then jumped in on her head and was fully in our small Geo Metro.  We were all screaming like a family of monkeys.  Mister Pink was screaming like a little girl and this may have been the only time I have ever seen him freak out. The Monkeys were huge!  His teeth were shiny and sharp.  We finally got him to jump off of her head and then it jumped on the roof of the car.  Mister Pink was trying to drive fast, but remember we were on small one lane roads on top of a mountain.  The windows were all manual roll up windows and I could not reach over to roll it up.  We then thought the monkey was gone, but again it jumped back into the car.  Mister Pink finally hit it hard with his backpack and it jumped out of the car.  We stopped the car, rolled up all the windows and then sat there SCREAMING.  All of us.  I laugh at the computer as I type this.  We were in freak out mode for 5 minutes.  

It was for sure the highlight of our trip and we love to tell the story to anyone who will listen. 

The  year before our 2nd child was horned by a cow on the top of a mountain in Switzerland trying to take the bell of her neck - so who knows what will happen this year (yep we are going to try to go again at the end of August)

So here comes my clever idea.  Every year for the first day of school the girls bring in a book to give to the teacher.  We draw their hand and write a little story about what they did that summer.  We also put a photo of them. 

This year we bought one of those ginormous books at Costco.  good thing they had the 5 little monkeys, it was perfect.

 

We wrote the story about her experience with the monkey and a little note to the teacher.  They read it all year long in circle time.  ( i am sure that added more trauma to my little but makes for a great story)

Even though school is starting in about a month keep your eye out for a great book to bring to the teacher for the first day (it lasts a lot longer than i shiny red apple)

Have a great summer day

Pink ::

p.s. we later found out it is illegal to feed the monkeys and saw signs everywhere that you could be fined 500 pounds for doing so.  That tour guide must still be laughing at telling me "make sure you feed them!"

 

and the water was so clear and beautiful!!

Attack back

Think::

So we are on our last day of job/house hunting trip.
We found this amazing neighborhood, you would love it, and it had this sign by one of the running paths. It is informing the neighbors that there are coyotes in the neighborhood.
Can you read it? The last thing says if a coyote attacks, attack back! What in the world? Can you imagine my little girls wrestling with a coyote?

Anyway we had a great trip but can't wait to get home.

Pink::

Applying applications

Think::

Do you know this about me ... I hate to fly and I hate using the word hate, so that let's you know how much I hate to fly.

Today our flight out west was so bumpity. I was gripping the arm rest to my left and Mister Pinks hand to my right. ( yep I alwyas let him have the isle and I crunch in the middle)
Anyway during the part of the flight when the pilot asked the stewardess's to sit down immediately, I grabbed my iPhone and used two applications.

First one is called Meditate Now. It has a series of relaxing messages to keep one from freaking out on a airplane, go to sleep , do well on a test and even helps with emotional eating.

The othe app is called Spin Art. It is exactly what it says it is and will remind you of being a kid. You can create the art and save it as a photo and even print it out and put it in a frame. My littles love it and play it all the time when we are in a long line or while watching me grocery shop. Today during the bumpidy bump I made this pink and green creation. ( which i will name in honor of Lilly Pulitizer) It helped calmed my nerves and was kind of fun too.
We only 75 min left on the flight and I may be making a few more spiny arts and listening to my new friends soothing voice.

I am getting some more peanuts.

Pink::

Off again

Think::

Mister Pink and I are off again for a visit out west together.
We are flying out of Baltimore which is a fun place to fly out of because a lot of US troops fly through here on their way home, which brings on lots of group clapping an cheering!!
Have a great last few days at the beach.

Pink::

Salty, Sweet and Smocked!

Think ::

One of my favorite things about the 4th of July (other than hanging out with great friends) was rediscovering a jello salad I first had when I lived in North Dakota 19 years ago.  It is rasberry Jello and Pretzles.  I love the Salty and the Sweet and I always love "crunch" in any food I eat. 

So here is the receipe if you want to make it anytime soon.  It is a great Christmas Jello salad.

Heather's 4th of July Salad

2 1/2 cups crushed pretzels
3/4 cup melted butter
Sugar
1 (8oz) pkg cream cheese softened
2 cups whipped topping
1 (6oz) pkg raspberry Jell-O
2 (10oz) pkg frozen raspberries

Mix pretzels, butter and 2Tbs sugar.  Press into a 9x13 pan.  Bake at 375 for 10 minutes.  Cool Completely.  Combine cream cheese, whipped topping and 1 cup sugar in a bowl; blend well.  Spread over cooled pretzel crust.  Refrigerate for 4-6 hours or overnight.  Dissolve Jell-O in 2 cups boiling water, add berries; stir until berries separate and Jell-O is thickened.  Pour over cream cheese later and chill for 2-3 hours.

And I must give a shout out to my new Goodwill find plates.  They are 4 dessert plates all with different dessert excuses on them.  They are darling and may have to be highlighted again in future posts.

The other thing I love about the 4th is my littles in their smocked American Flag dresses.  This is their 4th year wearing them.  That is the beauty of a Bishop style smocked dress the fit forever.  When the three of them wear them it makes me giddy to have all girls and live in this wonderful country!

I am going to share with our Eavesdropper where I buy them.  It is one of my best kept secrets, that will no longer be a secret.  She is a seller on Ebay and her dresses are a bargain.  (am I really going to reveal my source.....hmmm)  Ok it is too good to hold in.  It is a store on Ebay called Carouselwear
Her service is great and she has sizes from 0 - 8/10.  When she first started her dresses came with slips and bows - but don't know if that is still the case. 

Hope you are getting a great tan at the Beach!

Pink ::

What were you doing today??

Pink ::

What were you doing today at 12:34 :56 pm on 7.8.09

Well I hope it was something memorable, because it will never happen again.

get it 

123456789!

Fun huh?

Think ::

Happy 5th!

Dear Think ::

Happy 5 th of July!  I hope you are having a blast in Hilton Head. 

Eat some hush puppies at the Salty Dog Cafe for me. They are amazing and they put maple syrup in the batter. (photo from our trip in 2007)

On Tuesday night I went up to our church girls camp to give big hugs to all of the girls from our youth group.  The camp is only about 45 minutes away from me and is about 2 miles from Camp David.  It is always fun for the girls to see all the helicopters come in and see secret service on their hikes. 

On the way there you drive through this little town called Thurmont.  It is quaint and cute.  We saw the most amazing garage sale ever.  Tables and Tables of historic treasures.  I only had 4 dollars with me and three other people so my time was as limited as my funds. 

I purchased this hand embroidered pillow case for $3.00 - it was the perfect 4th of July purchase.

I also found these salt and pepper shakers.  I think I will put them in my sewing room to hold my small little buttons.

look at the great bone top encased in silver.
But as much as I love these $.50 for both shakers when I saw these yellow topped ones I knew they must be mine.


These shakers made by Avon were the ones I had growing up.  Other than the ones my mom brought out at Chrismtas these were are set my whole life growing up.  Seeing them brought back a flood of memories of standing in my kitchen in Las Cruces New Mexico.  The many nights we had tacos, tostadas compuestas, stir fry and even Spam. (Money was tight we ate lots of Spam) 
Isn't it funny how something so small and cheap (also $.50) can bring back so many memories.

Have fun adjusting from coming back from the beach (Not!)

Mr. Pink gets the day off tomorrow too, so we are soaking in any time we get with him these days.

Pink ::

Look Mom no hands!!

Think ::

Happy 4th! 

Pink ::

photo is of two of my little pinks enjoying the day!

Baby is all better!

Think ::

My baby is all better.  You know my 4th child, my Nikon D80.  It has been sick since April and finally today it is fixed, has a new lens and is back in action.  All my photos I have taken in the last 5 months have all been with my little Olympus (which I do love, it is just not as forgiving)



The first 3 photos I took were of my garden.  My window boxes are getting filled out nicely
 

and my tomatoes are starting to grow.

ahhh just in time for the weekend!

Pink ::

Patriotic Strawberries

Pink :: Okay I'll stop my magazine bragging now.

Here is one of my favorite traditions for the 4th of July. So yummy. I found this in Family Fun Magazine years ago, I'm thinking 1999 issue maybe, the date is not on the page I ripped out.

Wash strawberries. My Kroger had these huge long stem ones in a package of bubble wrap. Make sure strawberries are dry. Any water will mess up the coating. Melt a package of white chips according to package. I use Nestle Premium White Morsels zapped in microwave 1 minute. Stir until smooth. Dip strawberry 2/3 way in. Then dip in blue sprinkles. I like India Tree's Sparkling Sugar in Electric Blue. Place on wax paper until hardened, which does not take long. I suggest to use containers that allow the melted chips and sugar to be deep enough to cover the strawberry.

These particular strawberries were super duper sweet which was almost too much. I like it better if the strawberries are kind of tart so next time I will go regular cheap strawberries instead of the extra large bubble wrapped ones. Makes a great gift to take to friends & family. And a big platter of them looks great at a party.

Happy 4th :: Think

Oink! Oink!

Pink ::

Sorry I messed up your "reality post" by actually changing the banner from May to July. I laughed when I saw what I had done.

So.....I've had the Swine Flu.

Yeah. Not fun.
But a pretty good excuse for not posting for awhile, right?

(In case you can't tell I'm wearing Little Think's pig mask in this glamorous photo of me in my glasses, bed head, and no beauty products of any kind. there's some real reality for ya.)

It's not an official diagnosis but once I had missed the initial 48 hours of when they could give me something to help I decided I really didn't want to know if it was the Swine Flu or not. Figured it would just freak me out since I felt like I was dying all last week as it was. But research after the worst had passed has made me pretty sure that is what it was. Now all I have left is a horrible hacking cough and exhaustion if I try to do anything of worth. Which is hard since we leave the end of this week for Hilton Head with Mr. Think's family. Guess I'll have an excuse to just anti-socially lay around the beach and read a book. (I need suggestions for a good beach book by the way)

If I get time tonight I will try and post my favorite July 4th tradition. And maybe make the computer wallpaper for July. No promises. I'm fading fast.

But in the midst of feeling lousy I did have something happen that made me feel like I was maybe a little bit 2 Clever.

If you see the July issue of Parents magazine...

Look on page 69, item number 3:

Over two years ago I did some baby announcements for my friend Amy's first baby, James. I came up with an idea but it required a TON of hand work to put them together. She, being a new mom and everything, was willing to help put them together and pay the extra postage to mail them out. 5 punched circles connected by metal jump rings hung on a ribbon in a metal tin with label. A few months later, Parents Magazine was having a handmade announcements contest and she sent one in. Just over a month ago they called to tell her that it had been selected for the article and we won $100! Kinda fun to see it in print. I just finished ones for her new daughter. I'll post a photo of it when I get back.

Off to cough myself to sleep :: Think

Fix it's

 

The note I had on the door when Mr. Pink came home

Dear Think ::

Yesterday was a sad day.  My littlest pink who is the only one in the family with blonde hair and curls got in big trouble and had to spend 3 minutes alone in her room.  During that three minutes she did this

she cut her curls and filled the trash can with her lock of gold. 

I was surprisingly not as angry as might think.  But she now look s a lot Joe Dirt.


 

The funny part of this story is that I had been trying to come up with a clever way to share with you this new company started by two moms.  I have many of their headbands and hair clips.  (I love them because they actually stay in!) These flower clips are my new best friend helping me keep my sweet little 4 year old girl from looking like a 4 year old boy. 

Here is a little about the owners of the company.

Lizzy and Chelsea Staffieri are both stay-at-home moms. We have enjoyed finding a project that allows us to have a creative outlet, and be able to share our creations with those around us.

Where is Lyla Lou's located?

We are based in southern California, including Orange County and San Diego County. If you are interested in seeing our products, please contact us at customerservice@lylalous.com.

How was Lyla Lou's created?

We started off making hair accessories for our girls, hoping to make something that was a little different and better quality than what is already out there. We got so excited about what we were making, that we started selling them to friends and family nearby. From there, the products started to sell themselves. We have had so much fun making them that we wanted to make them available to everyone. 

Lyla Lou's is named after Lizzy's daughter. Lyla has an undiagnosed neurological disorder causing her to be developmentally disabled. She has been an inspiration to the business, as well as a huge blessing to our whole family.

click here for green trixie

 

Click here for Yellow Lou Lou clip

click here for turquoise and flame




So Here is the link to buy some of these for your little Think.
{www.lylalous.com}
Tell all your friends, they have great prices and even do custom orders.
 Just think Weddings, proms, great gifts for birthday parties and events.

Off to clip some flowers in my little Joe Dirt.

Pink ::

Think ::

I am sharing with you some of my favorite songs today! Is Nashville in my blood or what?

Enjoy.

Pink ::

Best Camp Ever

Think ::

I just signed up my oldest Pink for Camp.  Free Mac Camp.  Does it get any better than this? No bug spray needed. 

She will learn how to make presentations, make movies (I think she already has imovie down, but it will be good for her) and sharpen her Mac skills.  She is only 10 but pretty much has mastered most of the programs on our mac - the beauty of Mac's they are so kid friendly.

I think your little think is too young, but in a few years you won't want to miss this.

Eavesdroppers, here is the link if you want to check out ones in your area. 

Pink ::