Simple Pinecone Door Decor

With Christmas just mere days away I couldn't help but notice that my house was lacking as far as decorations go. 

Sure I had lights up and the tree but that is pretty much it. I was feeling pretty festive and was brainstorming easy ways to add some finishing touches to the house. As I pawed through my ornament box (courtesy of my mother-in-law) I came across some adorable faux acorn ornaments. I knew I wanted to use them for something but I wasn't quite sure what. Then I remembered a cute idea I had seen a while back. Don't ask me where I saw it because I honestly have no sweet clue. The pine cone craft I had seen had them hanging at different lengths with the ends gathered and tied in a knot, so it was a bunch of pine cones hanging from ribbon. I decided to try my own variation of the craft and instead hang them one at a time at different lengths. I apologize for the crappy photo quality. I have once again had to resort to using my sons Vtech kids camera until I can pick up some better batteries. This camera really doesn't do it justice. It looks so much beter and more vibrant in real life. The ribbon is a bright red and the tops of the cones have green leaves and red bows, but you can't really tell from the pictures. It is an easy way to add some sparkle to your door and is a welcome change from the standard green wreath. For more inspiration I managed to find a how-to for the exact same craft as the one that inspired me. You can check that out HERE                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

All you need for this insanely simple project is:

• four pine cones  (Or as many as you wish.You can also use either real or fake pine cones, you can pick fake ones up at your local dollar or craft store for a couple bucks).
• Ribbon (Again the color and width are up to you).
• Scissors
• Thumbtack or tape (Whichever you prefer to hang the ribbons. I used tape myself cuz the tacks were to hard to push into the top of the door).

Step 1) Cut a strand of ribbon for each ornament. Leave a couple extra inches past how long you want it to be so you can hang it over the door.



Step 2) Tie one end of each strand of ribbon to the top of each pine cone. (This was easy for me because these cones already had loops at the top of them but you could also glue the ribbon in place with a glue gun).

Step 3) Arrange them over the top of the door so that they hang down the front of the door. Play around with the spacing and different lengths until you are satisfied then either pin or tape them in place on the back of the door at the top.

**If you are feeling particularly ambitious there are many other variations to this craft and ways to further embellish it. You can dip the pine cones in glitter, spray paint them, add flowers, beaded strands, lace. The possibilities are endless. Feel free to put your own creative spin on it. This craft is going to be added to my Christmas lineup for the coming years but I am definitely going to gussy it up even further next time with glitter and some different color ribbons. This would also be adorable as a fall/autumn craft or you could change up the ribbons to fit almost any holiday (Pale yellow, blue and pink with white glitter cones for Easter, green ribbons with green glitter cones for Saint.Patty's, orange and black for Halloween, etc). Please share your own twists that you added!!


Enjoy your new simple and frugal decoration!!

New Year's Resolutions 2012

Every single January I start out the New year with the best of intentions. I am determined to stick to my resolutions and follow through. Then, every year, by February said resolutions have been long since forgotten. Well not this year I tell ya! This year I promise, no I VOW, to stick them out. There are three things that I am determined to change in 2012. Each of things will change my life for the better and I have NO excuse to flake on them. So, without further ado, here are my 2012 New Year's Resolutions:

Number 1: I resolve to quit smoking cigarettes. Yes, I know it is a disgusting habit. Yes, I know it is terrible for my health. And to make matters worse I have had asthma my whole life! I am surprised my doctor hasn't strangled me yet. I am not fooling myself into thinking this will be easy. I know it will be tough stuff, but i have overcame much MUCH more challenging obstacles. Hubby and I plan to quit together. I am sure that this is going to be a huge factor in my success because I am telling you right now that I will have a VERY hard time quitting if i have to see packs of smokes lying around and deal with him still smoking. Plus it is always good to have someone going through the same thing. You can support each other, help each other get through the cravings and just knowing you are not alone is a great help. I would ideally like to quit sans any type of aids such as the patch, however, I am not going to swear quitting aids of completely because i know a few people who had success with various types. I think i will just see how it goes quitting on my own cold turkey and if that ends up being to difficult then i may try either the patch or a prescription quitting aid such as Chantix. I am NOT going to use the gum because it tastes like ass and I would rather eat shit then chew on that. I havent worked out the logistics yet but i am going to pick a "quit date" and really really try to stick with it. I feel sorry for my children for the first few days though, as I am sure I will be far from in a chipper mood. Hopefully I am not to unbearable to be around. I know it will be worth it in the end though when i can breathe better and I am not spending almost ten bucks a day on smokes. Plus, it is setting a good example for my kids. Monkey see, monkey do and all that crap.



Number 2: I resolve to begin working out regularly again. This is something else I really want to do that will greatly benefit my health. Number one sort of ties in with this as it will be easier to workout when I am a non-smoker (See what i did there? Not 'if' but 'WHEN' I am a non-smoker..Getting in the mindset!) I won't get winded as easily. As it stands right now the stairs to my front door almost do me in. I had been working out regularly a few months back but I began skipping days and planning on making up for it then not doing it, then my motivation kind of just fizzled out completely. I did buy a lot of great workout equipment during that time though which I still have, so there is no reason why I can't start up again. I lost almost ten pounds in the last month or two,  down from 147lbs to 138lbs, from doing nothing differently except walking Coder to and from school daily.. This has given me a bit of motivation to continue and try to reach my goal weight of 125. Although, I am not really looking to lose weight as much as I am to tone up, get rid of the love handles and and increase my energy. I do want to lose that pesky last ten pounds but that is all. When I was on my workout kick I stumbled across a great FREE website called www.sparkpeople.com that offers a free workout and nutrition guide where you can log your eating habits and exercise minutes. It also has a ton of other awesome features like great articles, workout videos and demos, a very supportive community with forums and blogs and much more. If you are looking to lose weight or simply become more active I highly recommend checking it out. It costs nothing and is a great tool for anyone interested in getting in shape. This is also one of  hubby's resolutions so hopefully, like the smoking, we can help keep each other motivated. I will be doing all my workouts at home since I am too cheap for a gym membership, but this works out well for me because I can squeeze a quick workout in anytime, such as early morning, once the kids are in bed or during naptime.

Number 3: My final resolution is to get my house more organized. Right now our home is in a constant state of chaos. There is definitely much room for improvement in the organization department. Closets and toys are huge problems areas, as is the bathroom. I also need to adopt some type of filing system for important papers, bills and school forms, etc. Right now my counter is kind of a catch all for any and every paper that enter the house. And with Christmas just days away, and a bunch of new stuff coming into the house, what better time is there to get organized. I am always browsing cleaning and organization blogs and I come across tons of great ideas. I will see something, bookmark it with the intention to do it, and then never give the page another glance. But not this year! This year I am going to become an organization QUEEN. Well, maybe not. But I am definitely going to create some sort of system for organizating the various messes in my house. I don't have a ton of money to drop on fancy schmancy closet organizers and cubby systems so much of it will be ideas that are cheap and fairly simple and that use everyday items. One of my favorite organization sites is I'm an Organizing Junkie, so I will definitly be looking there for ideas and tips. The main areas in need of an overhaul are:

• Closets
• Kids roons/Toys
• Kitchen cupboards/pantry/fridge
• Important papers/school stuff
• Bathroom (Makeup, hair products, etc)

I will be posting each project I tackle along the way so be sure to Follow for tips and ideas as well as pictures of my progress. Also, if any of you have any ideas for organizing any of the above categories I would be thrilled if you would share. If I really like it I will even feature it!! I am thinking about doing some type of organizing series in 2012 but the idea is still in the works as of now so stay tuned in.

So there you have it! My resolutions for 2012 are official, now it is up to me to stick them out. Be sure to Follow to stay up to date on my progress. I would love to hear what types of New Year's resolutions everyone else hopes to accomplish. What are your top three resolutions for 2012? Do you normally follow through on resolutions? Please share!

Thursday Tidbits: Mr. Snowman Needs some mittons!!

First off I wanna say that I am so incredibly proud of Coder. He had his very first school Christmas concert on Monday and it was A-freakin-DORABLE!! All the kindergarteners sang a song about building a snowman to the tune of "If your happy and you know it" and it went along the lines of "Mr. snowman needs a hat, needs a hat (2X) Mr. Snowman needs a hat. Oh, fancy that! Mr. Snowman needs a hat, needs a hat!" For each part they had props and actions to do. Put on a hat for the hat part, put on sunglasses for the eyes, put on their mittens for the mittens part and so on. They also had to clap twice at the end of each verse. This is a lot going on for an adult, let alone a five year old!

Now keep in mind that Coder is often terribly shy in front of strangers and that night there was a full house of parents. I was kinda worried he would have stage fright and burst into tears or something.  However, he got off to a great start singing, clapping in time and putting his hat and glasses on. Then somewhere around the halfway mark things went downhill. He kind of froze like a deer in headlights, only snapping out of it long enough to clap when he noticed the other kids clapping. Then the cutest part ever was when he bent down to put his mittens on and could only find one He was spinning around and around on his knees trying to find the other. It was too cute!  Too be fair though, many of the other kids were doing random things too. Everything from kids dancing like a spastic chicken to excavating their noses was featured. At the end of the performance when I went and got him and asked how it was he kept saying, "Good but I didn't like the dark." I think what he means is that because the spotlights are so bright when they shine on you that when you look away into the audience everything looks black. I have a feeling that this freaked him out a bit. But oh, how it melted my heart to see him in his little Christmas suit on stage. Apparently, it melted everyone elses hearts too because the kindergartners got a HUGE standing ovation at the end of their performance. They most definitely stole the show!!

I also had Nelly with me in the audience, and she was putting on a show of her own for everyone in our general vicinity. She kept trying to play Peek-a-Boo with the woman behind us. Bless that lady, she played right along with it, much to Nelly's enjoyment! There was also a huge snowman on stage that she kept screaming "NOMAN!!" at. Then every time a new class would come on stage to perform she would alternate between yelling "WHERE SANT-Y CLAUSE?" and dancing on the seat. They were the fold down seats like at a hockey rink and she was barely heavy enough to keep it open. I had to keep part of my leg on her seat so it wouldn't swallow her up.

The only shitty part of the night was that my p.o.s camera was dead so I couldn't get any pictures. This really ticked me off. Apparently my camera will only work with top of the line batteries and even those only last a few hours. I bought some Panasonic batteries at the dollar store, planning to take pics at the concert. Yeaaaa, they wouldn't even turn the damn camera on!! I tried some Energizer ones (they are the type you push a button to test and it shows how much 'juice' is left in them) that were over half full and still no dice. It was a major disappointment because his look so friggin' cute. My sis-in-law did manage to get one pick of his class performing and you can see him in it but it is from pretty far back so it isn't the best picture. I'll post it when she sends me a copy. Would have loved to have close up pics but what can ya do?




                                                                                                                                                                       

Cute & Simple Toddler Hairstyles

Ever since I first found out I was having a girl, I had visions of all the adorable ways I would style her hair.

Unfortunatly, at age two, her hair is still not really long enough for any type of intricate style. Truthfully, most days I barely manage to run a comb through it, let alone get her to sit style long enough to style it. However, with the holidays finally here this means many a party to attend and dinner to host. I decided that I need to find some cute and easy hairstyles to go along with her incredibly cute Christmas dresses. Also, lately she has been bugging me to give her piggytales every day.

Had to use Coder's Vtech kids cam cuz mine was dead.Sorr so blurry!

She brings me elastics from her little container and whines and whines until I put them in her hair. This piggytail ritual is not complete until I also put elastics in all twenty-four of her dolly's hair. Usually the only two hairstyles I attempt are either a little half ponytail on the top of her head or pigtails. I am not very creative in the hair department. I have styled my hair in the same messy bun since high school. I wanted to try to find a few different options for her hair that could be done fairly quickly and easily. Luckily, she is going through a phase right now where she enjoys having her hair done so her yanking the elastics out won't be an issue (Although I am sure this will soon change).  I found some really cute ideas on Google but there wasn't as much info on toddler hairstyles as I thought there would be. I decided to post my findings hoping to provide some great styles all in one place, something I could not seem to find online.  I am not sure which style I am going to do on Nelly for Christmas day but I am definitely going to be stuffing her stocking with tons of hair accessories so I can experiment. Lucky for me, the dollar store by my house carries pretty much every type of hair accessory there is, for only a buck a pop. Since all dollar stores are pretty much the same ideas I am sure that you can find many great accessories at your local one as well.  Here are some simple and adorable ideas for your the little princess in your life:

Ponytails/Pigtails

You cannot go wrong with simple pony or pigtails.

You can spice up pigtails and ponys by adding multiple elastics or attatching multiple ponys together like so:

 Hair clips/Barrettes:

Hair clips and barrettes are a super easy way to spice up your little ones hair and you can easily coordinate them with their outfit to complete the look. If baby's hair isn't quite long enough for a normal clip try the velcro kind. They re designed to hold small and fine amounts of hair. Even baby's with just peach fuzz! To learn how to make your own velcro clips click HERE!

Braids:

Braids require a bit more time and effort but are perfect for special occasions or for keeping your little ones hair out of her eyes. You can go with the basic braid, multiple small braids, or french braids.

Hairbands/Headbands:

Hairbands are the perfect solution for toddlers who are, like mine, lacking in the hair department.

Ribbons/Bows:

Ribbons and bows are a simple way to make a basic hairstyle really pop, and you can easily coordinate the color to match any ensemble.

Knots/Twists:

This is a great hairstyle if you are looking for a fun and funky look that stands out from the norm. There are many ways to incorporate twists or knots into different styles. You can go more laid back with just two pigtail twists or you can go for a fun and playful look with whole head full.

Styling Tips for Toddlers:

-Apply a detangling spray for little ones with thick and/or curly hair. This will get the tangles out, making it easier to comb and preventing a tearfest.
-Give them a small toy to hold. This will, hopefully, distract them long enough for you to do their hair. Or just do what I do and turn on Treehouse channel:)

Resources:

• www.baby-log.com/hair-issues/toddler-girls-hairstyles-collection/
• http://www.beauty-and-the-bath.com/toddler-girls-hairstyles.html
• http://thewrighthair.blogspot.com/2010/06/toddler-french-braid.html
• http://www.princesshairstyles.com/2011/12/criss-cross-ribbon-hairstyle-for.html
• www.carolinehair.blogspot.com
• www.boutiquesweetheart.com
• www.prettybow.com
• www.curlyqshairdos.blogspot.com
• www.keepmecurly.com
• http://www.hairbowholders.com/catalog.php?category=38

Sunday Snapshots: How NOT to Supervise a Toddler.

With all the hustle, bustle of preparing for the holidays, I admit I probably haven't been giving my children the same amount of supervision I normally do.

That is not to say that I ignore them or leave them to fend for themselves. It is just that I will be so consumed in a project that I don't check in on them as often as I should I usually do.   Usually their giggles and shrieks assure me that they are, indeed, alive and well. It is the silence that terrifies me. So imagine my suspicion when in the middle of trying to fill out, address and stamp my ten thousand Christmas cards I become aware of the eerie silence that has cloaked my usually deafening home. I got up and began cautiously checking each room, shouting for Nelly, with no response. My heart begins to sink with dread as all kind of horrible scenarios run through my mind. What if she got outside? What if she is hurt and unconscious? What if she was abducted by aliens? Suddenly, I heard some shuffling around from the kitchen...What the? I turned the corner and paused right before the kitchen entryway, bracing myself for the very worst. I stepped around the threshold and came face to face with this:

If only I can get this goddam nail polish open...

Wait, shhh...Did you hear that?

Oh shit...I mean...Hi Mommy! Just tidying things up for you.

Apparently, Nelly decided that she was due for a manicure. I had a few of my favorite nail polishes on top of the stove. Well, she must have opened the oven door, and used it as a step to hoist herself up onto the top of the range. I watched her for a second as she struggled to open the nail polish, until she finally turned around with a looked on her face that clearly said "BUSTED." Thankfully, my oven and burners are next to impossible for me to turn on, let alone a two year old. You have to screw around with the timer for like five minutes, jiggle the dial, kick it three times and shout at least four profanities before the oven will work. Don't even get me started on my schizophrenic burners. I took her down and gave her a stern talking to: (*In meanest baby-talk voice* "Nooo, Neh-wee-poo, dat's badddd durl...It will burn da wittle babyyy...You no touch dat, oh-tay?" She looked at me like I had lost my mind and toddled off. Thankfully, we haven't had a repeat of her little adventure...yet. I am sure we will though, now that she knows she can use the oven door as a stepstool. If I am being totally honest I must admit that I hesitated before posting this. I was worried that all the other blogging moms would chastise me for being a shitty mom who lets her baby play on top of the stove. But then i decided fuck it, shit happens. (Pardon my french) I don't have eyes in the back of my head and cannot keeps tabs on both kids and get everything done i need to at the same time. And if there are any moms out there who can do so, well then I secretly think you're full of shit applaud you.

**There is a Christmas gift post in the works that consists of the gifts I bought my rugrats, and what I think some of the top toys of 2011 are. I am sharing this because I figure if you are anything like me then you are one nosy S.O.B and want to know what every other mom is doing, buying, wearing, cooking etc. I mostly enjoy these types of posts because I can then steal all these fantastic mom's ideas and claim them as my own, wowing my family and friends with my ingenuity in the progress:D Although I cannot guarantee a specific day, it will be posted this week for sure.**