Weiner Dogs on Wednesday

Good morning, momma!

That kid's mind is like a sponge...

So as I said earlier, I had the nephews over the weekend. Kurt was here, but for a good part of it I was alone, which was a first...and a challenge to say the least, but it was fun and exciting as usual with those two.

On Friday night we had to go to a little birthday shindig not far from our house, so I bathed them when I got home and we raced out the door.

As with a lot of kids in America, we passed a McDonalds and they suddenly became "starving." I told them that we were going to a party where there would be food, so no Mickey D's! I don't usually dig on stuffing them full of fast food anyway, but I was actually really thirsty, and so were they, so I finally agreed to just stop for some drinks.

Iced tea for me, fruit punch for Kyle, and Sprite for Caiden.

Then they saw the billboard with the pokemon toys. Like I said, I dont like to give them fast food, but I learned a while back that you can buy the toy for $1.70 or somthing. I know its dumb, but it means a lot to them. They had been at the hospital ALL day with Kurt's uncle who has pneumonia until I could get to them after work, and they were SO good...so I asked the lady for 2 pokemons to go with our drinks.

On the way to the party, they were playing, as boys do with action figures...and "fighting" them. This is what I heard:

Caiden: "My guy's name is super megatron, he has powers, and he will EAT you!"
Kyle: "Well my monster's name is RONALD and he wants to go to OFFICE MAX!!!"

I personally never go to OfficeMax, but I am sure Aunt Donna must take them...too funny!!

Reduce. Reuse. Recycle

As with most people, I have an enormous amount of crap in my house shoved into drawers and closets. I also have a (bad?) habit of picking up things at thrift stores and garage sales that I think I can use later on.

I also have an infatuation with spray paint and the fact that it can totally change  the way that you use or look at an item.

I went looking through my thrift store crap and found a few things that I wanted to make into a pretty little candy dish for work. We were using a Thanksgiving themed basket, complete with leaves and pumpkins. I work in a brand new office with beautiful woodwork and granite counter tops...the dumb basket just didn't fit in well.

So here we go...

I started with these 2 little little beauties. Both of them were in my stash of crap er things I have picked up at thrift stores with every intention of using. The salad bowl was $1 and brand new with tags on it...and the little candle stick was $1 and needed a little work to get wax off of it...no worries, I'm going to paint it anyway!

Then I sanded those bad boys down. I didn't even really do that great of a job...just took the finish off. Don't spend more than 10 minutes on it...its not going to matter in the long run!





I glued them together using gorilla glue, simply because that is what I had here in the house. I put some weight on it and let it dry overnight.

Coat of spray paint and ta da! Not too shabby..except the girls at work say that it should be bigger (to hold more candy, naturally.)
*I have seen similar projects on other blogs, so by all means, I am not taking credit for "inventing," this, just showing what I did and how to make it your own!

So much for that.

Instead of spending my weekend relaxing and blogging some cute new pics, projects, and listing some new things in the shop, we spent our weekend like this...

And I wouldn't want it any other way! Being their aunt is such a privilege! Cute project, thrifty finds, and of course Wieners on Wednesday to come later on this week!

...

and by soon I mean as soon as Kurt's uncle gets out of the hospital and we don't have 5 and 8 year old boys, 2 puppies running  the house and some decent weather. Its just not been a good day. Good things to come though!!

Coming Soon...

Good stuff coming tonight when I get home...keep your eyes peeled ladies and gentlemen!

Portillos

Kurt and I have really had to cut back on our expenses since moving into this place. One of the ways that we have done that is by not eating out often, if at all. Once in a great while, we will grab Pot Bellys on the way home from church, but thats it. No McDonald's breakfast or Starbucks, etc
The last time we went out to a sit down dinner was in January with my best friend Laura when we were in Virginia. The last time we went out on a dinner "date," was our anniversary last October. We are taking this pretty seriously. Plus, we like cooking at home. We finally have our own kitchen.

Well. Tonight I was crabby, and it was raining and Kurt had a long day, so I broke down.

OMG...if you don't live in Chicago, you don't know what you are missing!