talking to your kid about sex

We have a 10 year son who will soon be 11. He has been asking about sex lately. He is so excited to be starting puberty and cannot wait until the 5th grade film at his school which discusses changes taking place within his own body, but not sex. I love that he wants to ask us all kinds of questions and feels no embarrassment talking to us. I love that he wants to learn from us and not his friends. I want to keep that line of communication open; but I have to be honest, when he first approached me about "the talk", I did panic. I quickly picked up half a dozen books from the library. None of them talked to us like the one below. I ended up buying it from Barnes & Noble.

Is your child ready to begin the talks? I strongly recommend this book. It's easy to read, and is just an all round great guide.

Selling Boys Size 8 Clothes ~ Ebay Gap Kids

Anyone looking for boy size 8 clothes, mainly from Gap Kids? Go here to buy.

Tons of cute shirts:

Lots of jackets and coats:

Lots of pants:

100% boy outfits [Gymboree]:

tupperware ... by a drag queen

North America's No. 1 Selling Tupperware Person

4th Year in the Row....

Miss Dee W Ieye

Went to a tupperware party last night like I've never seen. As Dee says: "this isn't your grandmother's tupperware party." Miss Tennessee puts on quite a show. Hey, you never know, she might be coming to an area close to you.... or contact her to see if she'll come to you.

Dee is on facebook too.

I happen to know Dee personally, I graduated from high school with him. He's an actor, by trade, and you can read more about "him" here. He is also pitching a TV reality show based on this character. Good luck Kevin. You are fabulous.

whopping cough

a friend of mine acquired whopping cough. she got it from her son, who didn't have as severe case as she did. Yes, he got vaccinated. She's battled it for a month now and is still coughing. Did you realize you need to get immunized again for whopping cough as an adult? At one point, whopping cough wasn't even around the USA, but now with all the immigrants coming into our country, most of whom haven't received the Pertussis vaccine, it is a major concern. Watching my otherwise healthy friend battle this disease, calling 911 two times because she couldn't breathe, spending the night in the hospital is very scary. I have asthma and cannot imagine going through what she has just gone through this past month.

Whopping cough is severe in California, Michigan and Ohio, and most likely coming to a state close to you. Please get vaccinated, if not for yourself, for your family. And for all those non-believers in vaccines, mercury is not in any vaccines for childhood diseases.

flipping out - season 4

Do you love FLIPPING OUT as much as i do? I cannot wait, cannot wait for the season to begin on August 10. Check out a video here. Get ready .....

paint swatches

I found a handy way to keep paint swatches. I paint a wood door hanger [found at any craft store for less than $1]. I like looking through the hole at the fabric to see how I feel it's going to work in a room. I feel having the ability to look at the color all the way around a fabric is really essential for me.

On the back of the door hanger, I write the paint information.

Here's another hanger which is my house's primary color. I have this color memorized, but wrote down which areas of the house were painted with this color.

Yea, it's pretty much everywhere.

I keep all my swatches in one drawer and if I need to look for a match, I can easily grab the swatch [door hanger] and go.

my baby is growing up

She declares that this is too babyish for her in all of her 7 years oldness. Soft baby pink walls, darling patchwork quilt from Pottery Barn Kids in soft greens, blues, pink. Cute, floaty butterflies. We built our house when Sophie was 1 1/2. This was what I did her room in back then, so I guess it's time for a change.

I still picture her sweet head upon these pillows all of 2 years old with bouncy curls and a whale spout on top of her head. So tiny in this big bed.

And change we did. She should wake up happy every single day with this color on the walls. Turquoise and fuchsia. She actually picked out the paint color. Ah, a decorator at heart.

Quite an impact color, but yet quite feminine and pretty too.

[More to come]
sweet daddy making all her wishes come true

4th of July on the 3rd

I jumped on the 4th of July red, white and blue cupcake bandwagon. These were super easy, super cute and super fun to make. I made red [white chocolate] stars earlier in the week and just kept them away from the kids hidden in the refrigerator.

One white cake box mix, divided between three bowls, food coloring in each. The red looks pink in the photo but it was really darker in person.

things that make me smile ....

her first fish

his first fish

is this really fishing?

zoey - 1 year old

WOO-HOO Jackpot at Hobby Lobby

80% off sales at Hobby Lobby get me crazy excited. I usually find one or two things, but not today. No today I found 8 items. This was better than a garage sale. Roughly $38 for everything? You have got to be kidding me.

Rectangular black/cream box $1.80 [orig. $10] ~ leaving as is - perfect

Square black/pink box $1.60 [orig. $8] ~ painting and decoupaging for Sophie's room

Square fleur de lis plaque $3.20 [orig. $16] - painting cream or black

Tall bird $2.40 [orig. $12] - painting cream

Fleur de lis on left and other tall thing leaving as is - both for $10 [orig. $25 and $30]

Medieval looking plaque $6 [orig. $30] - as is going above husband's office door frame

Look at this mirror below. Isn't that cool [and heavy]. Not sure what I'm doing with it but I think I'll rub cream paint on it and give it an aged look. See the price tag?

No , well here's a closer look ~


And here's what I paid ~

Borders Double-Dog Dare You Reading Challenge for Kids

Check out this great MSN Video: A Cappella Michael Jackson Medley

Check out this video: A Cappella Michael Jackson Medley

keeping in mind this is one guy performing all the parts.... amazing

still around?

Do you ever wonder when someone doesn't blog for a while that something must be going on in their life that just could be bad? Well, my dad has been sick. In/out of hospital, undiagnosed internal bleeding, rehab in nursing home, back home, back to hospital. Just crazy. Trying to pull things back together and have some free time for myself. I need it, my soul needs it, my family needs it. Starting to feel the drain of everything and a bit overwhelmed.

Not to mention my kids' elementary school carnival is this weekend and I, of course, had committed quite a while ago to chair a committee. Everything happening at once and not enough hours in the day. You know, you've been there. It will pass. Just gotta get through this week of carnival, school and sports. Deep breathes my friends, deep breathes.

Starbucks ~ free pastry day ~ March 23

click on the coupon below to link you to your own coupon and then tomorrow morning, bright and early, go enjoy a free pastry before 10:30 [with a purchase, of course].

just one project .... homework station

My goal today = get one project done and off my list.

Sounds simple, right?

Well, it's not. I haven't crafted in quite a while and I needed it today.

I found this box at Target.

Filled with these greeting cards, perfect for the kids to give. It was on clearance for $2.50.

I kept the box, knowing it would come in handy for some project.

The kids really need a homework station. They sit at the bar to do their homework and are constantly up/down, up/down getting scissors, tape or an eraser. I need to have items contained so they didn't have to always search and create another mess. However the blue stripes didn't go in my kitchen. A little Basic Grey paper and we're good to go.

Brock even left his homework out from this morning which he needs to complete when he gets home. See how it almost hides under the edge but yet perfect for them to grab from ... and cute. Believe me, they'll think it's cool.

keeping busy with .....

This sweet thing turned 7. My baby, I just can't believe it.

She requested heart cakes, one chocolate, one vanilla please.
cute and sweaty after playing on jumpies and slides and obstacle course.

And then off to Indianapolis for Brock's hockey tournament this past weekend in Indianapolis. My fantastic defenseman is bottom row all the way over on the right. They made it to the finals. We were very proud [and surprised] for our Stars team. Fun weekend with just me and Brock. BN and the other two kids stayed at home because of basketball games and tournament.

here's the team's plaque

Upcycle ~ Second Hand Stores

I have a favorite second hand store. I stop by to look about once every couple weeks. I have scored so many Abercrombie shirts for my sons. Can't beat the prices, 7 shirts for $35. Gotta love that, plus I'm helping the environment by upcycling. Gotta love that too!

it's skiing time

Getting fitted for the skis. Very exciting, she's not quite sure what's going on, hanging close to her daddy.

I couldn't take many pictures outside because it was lightly drizzling.


Off to ski school. There's Sophie in pink and Cole with the red jacket and red hat waiting to go down the bunny hill.

Here she comes -- looking good, big smile on her face.

Here comes Brock, ready for the big hills. This boy has no fear and right after bunny hill went to the big hills and skiied for the next 8 hours. He even, unintentionally, went down a black diamond hill, through the woods, through tunnels. Oh my ...

Mr. Clean's Magic Erase is well .... magic

We all know the Magic Erase is good for cleaning spots off doors and walls, but did you know what else it can do?

It can clean the white rubber part off shoes. One toe done and the other not.

Look at that terrible scuff on my SUV rear view mirror. Thank you red truck that rubbed against me.

A little Magic Erase and it's gone. I have used this all over my car. People seem to like to hurt our big huge SUV's. I get scuffs all the time on my corner bumpers and rear view mirrors. And I do not park in spots too small for my Sequoia, I think it's just the way it is. This also works on boats and waverunners.

Reusable Shopping Bags ... A must

Do you use reusable shopping bags? Or have you purchased bags and use them but many times forget them and leave them in the house? I've done that a few times. So I started putting the bags right back in my car as soon as I unload the groceries. I never forget now.

Here, Walmart is starting a new program to reduce pastic bag useage for the environment. It's a wonderful idea. Walmart sells their bags for $.50 but they are small. More for a trip to Walgreens than a grocery store. I use the big bags. My favorite part about using reusable bags, other than helping save oil, is they stack so nicely in the back of my car. Things don't fall out like plastic bags.

Did you know it takes 12 million barrels of oil to produce 30 billion plastic bags?

Did you know other countries have banned the use of plastic bags? Ireland, Ugando, China!

Please buy some reusable bags next time you're at the store.