Twins Room, Drab to Fab

Before and after-- Only let me load one pic of before, but obviously drab :o( and the rest obviously FAB!! I didn't decorate their rooms when they were babies because since babies really don't care what their room looks like, we saved the money for diapers and wine.

I think their room turned out awesome, I know some folks have EVERY thing matchy for the preppy baby store, but I did this for less than $100. Yes the twins love it :o)

The Zoo

Summer fun

Jackson thought it was so fun to spray Renae with the water.

How to make a Neck Cooler

Turned out so COOOOL!! LOL. I sewed a tube of fabric and reinforced the seem with fabric glue, because the silica beads are so tiny. You are like--Hey Connie what is up with the whip stitch and running stitch--that is because I have ADHD and was getting bored. Then used a piece of wire to turn it inside out (you can use a metal hanger) . I sewed a line to hold the silica beads (that I took out some diapers). Filled it with the beads using a funnel and a giant straw. Then sewed the other side to keep the beads in place. DUDE!! I only used maybe a little more that a tablespoon of beads. As you can see in the second to last pic--just a tiny bit and you can't even tell that they are in the pocket. I got it wet and Look how much they swelled UP. I think It will work of my Cole to keep him cool while he is detasteling corn. At first he will think it is so lame and won't even consider wearing it, but when he gets hotter than a turtle in flannel pajamas--he will wear it.

Close Encounters

The other night--"Close Encounters of the Third Kind" was on TV. Me JIm-cole- and renae started watching it. We noticed it was made in 1977. So Renae asked why the soda cans looked funny, I explained how the pull tab worked. Then ya know grandma was living with the family on the movie. Cole asked "is that how people lived--grandma living with them?". I said, yeah alot of people have grandma and/or grandpa live with them. I told him "when grandma and grandpa get old, they will live here with us" Cole said "Where will I sleep" I told him that it prolly won't be next week and chances are that he may be grown up when mom and dad Bingman get so senile that they have to live with us. Oh and also in the movie when the aliens are coming, cole askes "did you have basements back then?"

Real life close encounters. UUuuughhh, I am working on fixing up my club house. The dogs were scratching at some floor boards, so I had jim move them. Low and behold--3 snakes. On was really big (according to Jim). So at 8:30 that night, I went to Menards and bought some Snake Away. I called my country friend, Becky, to ask if that stuff works. Welll did I mention that Becky is country? She likes snakes!!! She is like "Connie, they aren't gonna hurt you, ya want those big black snakes in your yard to keep out the bad snakes". She then explained what the bad snakes looked like. To be on the safe side, Iavoid all snakes. That didn't make me feel better. Oh and if ya wonder what Becky looks like, she dosn't look like a big, country, butch woman. She is really pretty and has a voice like a Disney princess. I talked to Cheryl later and she was able to commiserate with me.

Big Boy

My hippie boy needed a hair cut-- but kinda made me sad that he is a big boy now. OK he is still in diapers and takes a bottle, so not completely grown. However he does think he is a grown man and doesn't have to hold mommy's hand across the street. Maybe he doesn't want the ladies to think that he is a mommas boy or something

http://redhenhome.blogspot.com/2011/06/little-french-chocolate.html

This lady made this table look awesomely vintage. Copy and paste the title of this post into your browser to see how she did it

We Will Miss you Pam

Last Saturday, Pam and I went to the stawberry festival and met some other friends of ours. We had a great day. Then on Monday I tried to call her, and her mom answered and said that she had died. She is THE sweetest person I have ever know. As a matter of fact she was to sweet. She literally would help people if it took her last bit of stregth or her last dime.

From Grossness

Yep, this was our capet. Funky!! The folks that lived here before us had lots of foster kids and animals. Then we moved in with kids and animals. Al makes for some funkyness. Also the quality of the carpet is super bad. See the first pic? See the browns spot in the tear?? that is the sub floor. So bad. Luckily we got a few bucks from out taxes and got some tile. I found some that is vinyl/composit but looks like stone.

To Awesomeness!!

I LOVE our new floor!! It is actually some cheap (well sorta) vinyl/composit tile. I has been a Bitch to put in!! 6 hours of prep per room plus 4 hours of dry time for adhesive primer and 8 hours of dry time for the floor leveler. We have been working since Thurs evening and have the foyer and dining room done. Kitchen is mostly prepped. We were hating on the person who felt the need to put many rows of stapes 2 inches apart for the pad. Really dude? was it necessary? uuuughh. Oh will I am thankful for our tax return that alowed us to do this.

This is kinda weird

My friend Sheila sent me this

Awesomeness for Cheap

I am not a border person. They are usually kinda cutsy. Our Bathroom had a super cutsy country border with apples, rosehips, rustic stars, which is way cool if you like that kinda thing. Well I took it off and then took a pic. Yes the red part really looked like that.

I found some textured wallpaper, cut it to border size, then painted it with a "hammered copper" spray paint. I hung it up and it looked cool, but then I put a couple layers of a dark walnut stain on it. Then stain is kinda black and I worked it into the crevices of the design and then wiped it off of the raised areas. You can tell the diffence that the stain makes in the 3rd pic--part stained and part not. I think it turned out AWESOME and cost a total of $20!! I have a ton left over also.

I HATE the quote "It is not the number of breaths you take, but the moments that take your breath away

Obviously who ever came up with that, never knew anyone who died young.

It seems like such a long time since this pic was taken. However seems like just yesterday that I got the call of the horrible news. It was 3 years ago. Now my sissy is gone, Jade is a Beautiful young woman, Brennan such a busy man on campus. My Brother in Law, Kit has found a wonderful wife named Jamie. I am very happy for him. I also now have a new neice named Hannah, she is beeeeautiful like my Jader bug.

Death sucks in any situation. When dad died--well he smoked 3 packs a day and died of lung cancer at 58. To young and it was horrible, I miss him every day. At least it made some sort of sense. Tami, dying so suddenly is just so hard to deal with. I think about her many times a day. Every time I say my daughter's name, I think of my sissy. For a short time I almost regreted naming her "Tami" because it hurt to say her name. I am much better with it now, especially when I see some of my sister's wonderful traits in her. Of course Tami loved everything about nature. Spring flowers, trees, animals, and fall leaves were at the top of her list. So all of these things remind me of her.

I will say that her death put alot of things into motion. When she passed, I had a "meaning of life" moment and decided that I wanted kids. As a matter of fact during the funeral, I looked over at my niece and nephew as they cried and I decided that I wanted children as sweet as them. Wow-- then I had my twins (boy and girl). Having twins day care was gonna be like $1,000 a month, so I am a stay at home mom.

I know that my sissy guides me as a mom. I swear I hear her exact words come out of my mouth. She was a wonderful mother. Being a mother was her life and I wish she had been able to be a grandmother and of course and Aunt to my babies.

There is no need for sympathy, just a greater appreciation for each other. Life is too short to worry about keeping the house clean, worring about what the neighbors think, or having a fancy car. Are you above ground??? Then it is a good day!!!!

Hope this video uploads

This was Easter Morning.

My Buful Girl

My Baby Girl on Easter Morning.

So Glad it is Spring Time

Grillin Time!!

My home girl Cheryl hooked my babies up with their own grill!

Thank you Auntie Cheryl!!

My little Stinker

OK-- Most of you know that my little Tami bullies her brother. She will take his toys and go after him to get them. We have worked with her so she is a little better. Lately she wants to hog the snacks. So, I found Miss Tami Terminator with the yummy berry snack crackers all tucked under her chin. Oh!! I thought. That is so that she can keep them away from her brother and still have 2 hands to play. Well that is kinda smart, but not nice.

Yep, I am a Super hero

OK, So I have this body suit that holds in all your chub, like a full body girdle. I only had that on when Jim walked into the bedroom. He said "Wow!! you are a Superhero!!" I said "Well Yeah"

Healthy Eating Ideas

My friend Becky, who has just beat cancer, gave me lots of healthy eating ideas. She makes fruit smoothies and them puts veggies in them. Her blog is over on the right "This is our life! The Readys"
Yesterday I made one for the babies with fruit and veggies that were on sale.
Cantalope--Bananas--Frozen Spinach (cheaper than fresh)--avacodo--grape juice.
The babies loved it!! Oh I know you are thinking "that is not enough fat and calories for a growing baby" Well for supper we had Maccaroni with lots of butter and cheese from the Amish and them I mixed in some farm fresh eggs with half and half. There ya go. Good Food for cheap.

You know I am a hater on processed food so the real butter, eggs, and half and half may be super fattening but it is not processed with horrible chemicals.

What is this world coming to???

What have I been doing?? Well was ultra busy making candles over the holidays, then we did a benefit for my buddy who has cancer, so I am just now getting back to the blog.

I have always had this idea in the back of my mind, then I got some awesome homemade soap for Christmas from cousin Clara. I loved it so much because I was enveloped in a cloud of enchantment everytime that I used it. The soap is called Herman Handmade Soap, so I Googled it--they don't have a website. WHAT??? no website??? So I contacted them the old fashion way, by telephone. I requested a list of soaps that they had, she said I would send my order and a check through a place called the post office. Oh Ok I rember the post office. Well I also found that these soap makers wrote a book called Better Off by Eric Brende. I found a used copy on Amazon for $0.01 (yep, a penny + $3 shipping) In a nutshell, Eric, who had recieved degrees from Yale and MIT went to live with the Amish for 18 months. After this experience he and his wife decided to cut out of the rat race for things and technology. So now he drives a richshaw in St. Loius and Makes soap.

OK, what I learned from this book (and what my mother in law has told me 100 times) is that I don't need so much crap!! So I threw out 8 garbage bags full of stuff. Stuff like--broken lamps that I was gonna fix-- burned out candle containers, and tons more. Yep, If left to my own ways, I would be a horder. Why?? Welll I was always taught to conserve, ya may need it later. Needless to say my hubs was ecstatic!!

Another aspect of the book talked about doing things by hand. So many folks want to rush to buy things that are fast and quick. This brings be to my point. Is out need for convience food the cause of so much cancer?? Of course the plastic packaging leaches into our food to join with all of the other pesticides and preservities. I watched a documentry called Food Inc. I meat producer talked about how in order to kill the ecoli in the meat, they spray it all down with ammonia. So I am thinking that back to basics is the way to go--two reasons--Tami and Jackson. I don't know how far I will go. Up till recently the only homemade thing that I did was grate cheese by hand. ;o). There is alot that I need to learn aaannnndd I know just the folks to aske--My cousins Daryl and June Roberson. They are awesome, the raise chickens, sheep, veggies, herbs and lots of other stuff. They make their own cider, soap, and of course can lots. I will prolly hit Daryl up for some advice.

Ideally I would love to get rid of the cable, but my hubs thinks that my step kids would miss it. They are ultra sweet kids and I could not ask for better brother and sis for my babies, however they are not farm kids. One time we asked them to help shuck corn and you woulda thought I asked them to lay a golden egg --hence the pic above. It is 100% not their fault that they do not know about hard work or a life without exensive name brand clothes. for sure lil Renae is not lazy, she is a very helpful punkin around the house. Hopefully they will learn that making and doing things together can be fun.

I would never be a hater on alot of technology--you know I Loooooves me some Facebook!! Keeps me in contact with my Homie G's (I wonder if amish ladies refer to each other as "home girls??) I just think that America's hunger for convience has resulted in a heaping scoop of cancer causing foods.