So my shirt can be a This House Original, but only because the hubs thought it up. :)

I had planned on putting up a mock definition of baseball widow, but the definition ended up being on the longish side and Stephen made mention that they'd have to stare at me in order read the whole thing, so he came up with something much simpler. :)

So here's my very first t-shirt that I've altered for me. :)

Yep, Stephen snapped that picture while I was on my laptop. Aren't my glasses cute? So here's the real picture of me. :)
I love how sarcastic my shirt is. I love that it can be changed for other teams as well. :)

I'm also including some jpg's of the template so that you guys can create your own. I'm even including other teams. :)




I was hoping for more teams, but I got tired of trying to look for the fonts for these ball teams! I had to alter the Orioles font so it matched a little better, and I never did get that swoop  too look right, so that's why it doesn't have one.

Have a great day guys, and on Monday I'll be back with some great change-ups. :)

Ok guys here's the hubs shirt!


Like I said I borrowed this saying, and being that Steve is originally from Massachusetts its kind of appropriate since he does still say some words without their 'R's Beeh. :)
I am really loving freezer paper lately, but again....the outline...oiy...such a pain!

Anyways.....tomorrow is the big day. Where I get to show off my first t-shirt  ever for myself. Isn't that sad? I've made all of these shirts for the guys, and have never made one for me. Although I do feel  like I'm not the only Mom who does that.

So anyways guys have a great day and I will definitely be seeing all of you tomorrow. :)

Like I promised yesterday, here's Dev-O!
If only this shirt were true, because {and he's going to hate that I'm sharing this when he's older} his feet sweat. You guys wanted to know this didn't you? Truly, I feel sorry for his future significant other. Ugh. He's only 5 and I'm already saying this. He may need to start washing his own socks - next year. :)


Here's the boy rockin' his Daddy's colors proudly - of course I haven't told him that his Super Mario Bros. shirts are clean either. :)
I have to tell you guys though - doing that outline work is a PITA. A big one. I mean like crick-in-the-neck pain. At least it totally makes the shirt.
Tomorrow is Steve's shirt. I borrowed a saying for his, but the little guys are totally me. Like this house original. Hmm...I may trademark that. This House Original. I could rock that. Don't you think?

Alright, I've rambled enough. I hope you guys liked Dev's shirt, and I'll be back tomorrow with the big guy's shirt. :)

BTW....I can't wait to show off mine. :) I mean like I really can't wait.

Have a great day guys!

So Friday is opening day for the Red Sox. The boys are playing the Rangers, I'm getting ready to don my mourning colors, because I will once again be a baseball widow. I really hate April through October, because the conversation will now include the highs and lows of every Red Sox game/player/injury and error. LE SIGH


However, the men of the house are very excited about the game similar to Rounders and in their outnumbered honored here is the beginning to a week long tribute to them.


I made shirts for each of us to celebrate {mourn} the Sox and their season; since I only have pictures of Harrison's shirt so far, that's who I'm going to share with you. :)

So without further ado - Here's small fry rockin' his Dirty Water. :)

 Target had shirts on sale a week or so ago, so I stocked up. :) I love the green on H. It brings out the green in his pretty hazel eyes. He gets those from his Daddy and his Granddaddy. :) Oh yea...did you see my oops? Well if you don't notice it then I'm not going to point it out. :)
Tomorrow's batter is Devlin!

Hope you guys liked the small fry's tribute to the Charles. :)

Have a great day and see ya tomorrow!

So cruising a discussion group for crafty moms and a question was posed as to whether or not your Mom was crafty, so I got the thinking. How did we all first get into our crafts?

My mom and grandmother taught me to sew, but my great grandmother also sewed and she got her skills from her mom (my great-great grandmother) who was a seamstress in the early 1900's.

So that's how I got into crafting, that and a need. Clothes are expensive, so are bed linens and table linens and curtains! :)

How did you guys get into your crafts?

I'd like to give a shout-out to my very good friend, Sally, for the fantastic Christmas gifts she sent me.

Among the gifts was a wonderful set of cookie cutters...ninja cookie cutters!!! It doesn't get much cooler than that. :-) Thank you, Sally!



It just so happened that we held a bake sale at work this week, the proceeds from which we are donating to the Ronald McDonald House. I was asked to contribute to the baked goods (my reputation has gotten around), so there was really only one choice. To FoodNetwork.com!

Chocolate Sugar Cookies
Modified from two Alton Brown recipes

3 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 Tbsp milk
3 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted
1 tsp vanilla extract
Powdered sugar, for rolling out dough

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. Place butter and sugar in large bowl of electric stand mixer and beat until light in color. Add egg and milk and beat to combine. Put mixer on low speed, gradually add flour, and beat until mixture pulls away from the side of the bowl. Add melted chocolate and vanilla. Mix until fully integrated. Divide the dough in half, wrap in waxed paper, and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 375° F.

Sprinkle surface where you will roll out dough with powdered sugar. Remove 1 wrapped pack of dough from refrigerator at a time, sprinkle rolling pin with powdered sugar, and roll out dough to 1/4-inch thick. Move the dough around and check underneath frequently to make sure it is not sticking. If dough has warmed during rolling, place cold cookie sheet on top for 10 minutes to chill. Cut into desired shape, place at least 1-inch apart on greased baking sheet, parchment, or silicone baking mat, and bake for 7 to 9 minutes, rotating cookie sheet halfway through baking time. Let sit on baking sheet for 2 minutes after removal from oven and then move to complete cooling on wire rack. Serve as is or ice as desired. Store in airtight container for up to 1 week.

Here's the thing, I didn't get started on this till about 10:30 at night. I don't really bake, so I didn't realize what all was involved in making sugar cookies. Silly me. There's a reason I entitled this post "Night of the Ninjas".


Somewhere around 1:30am--I set the timer on my phone and went to bed. I was pretty out of it when I got up, so I don't know what time I started on all this. I rolled everything out on a cutting board. Remember that thing in the recipe about using powdered sugar to keep things from sticking? Do not skip that step! I lost a good ninja to stickiness. Just look at those little guys! They're all ready for action. I bust out about a dozen of these guys, even though the recipe makes dough for something like 25 or 30 of them. Yeah, that wasn't happening. It was 3am when I finally finished.


6:30am--Before anyone says anything about the colors, do you know how hard it is to find bold, quick-setting colors when the grocery store is trying to promote springtime? These ninjas were in touch with their feminine side. They turned out so nice, though. I'm a little bit proud to say that this was my first time icing sugar cookies; I think I did a pretty good job.

7:00am--I was done just in time to get ready for work. My little ninjas seem a bit upset at being trapped under plastic.

I learned a lot here, mostly how much goes into making sugar cookies. I sometimes think baking is the hardest form of cooking. It certainly felt like it as I was fighting sleep all day long the next day. Mum told me later that she used to do sugar cookies with us as kids over a few days so that it wasn't such a task and also so that we had something to do over a few days. That being said, try making these with your kids. I know it would be so much fun if it hadn't been done in the wee hours of the morning. Give it a go; I know you'll love these delicious little cookies.

So remember this post? You know the one where our evening went to hell in a hand basket in about 5 minutes. So the next day was the zoo. It was an epic fail. I mean like #fail. We were there a total of 2 hours. There was no parking, we ended up parking in a residential neighborhood and hoofing it. Then it was packed. P-A-C-K-E-D. DC schools were out and everyone was at the zoo, so we saw the big cats. That's it before our good mood was shot and we said...we'll try again in a week or two. But here are some shots of our short 2 hour visit.

 Here's our poor small fry all bandaged up. He's in a good mood....he's sitting in a big person chair. :) Before he decided to face plant onto the pavement from the wagon. Luckily, he was not hurt further.
 Here's our big guy! He's so silly. :) Love his shirt. So does he. I totally rocked that mushroom. :)
 2 hours took a lot out of both boys, but never in a million years could I sleep like that.
 Guess which color is going up. Oh and those are not our usual towels. Our towels are being washed, so those are the crappy towels that used to be our good towels.
 The remains of our hamper, and the box that the candle sconces came in. Wow, I should probably through that all away.
 Pretty sconces! Love my tub. Hate the blase' of the windows. They need something. If only I knew someone who did stained glass. AHEM. *cough* MOM!
 More colors. Those windows I showed you earlier. Yea, they get ALL the morning sun. So I needed to put the paint every where to get the greater effect. Oh and I hate that mirror, light fixture and all the crap on the counter. Um, and I hate the vanity cabinets. So what I like about the bathroom? The tub, shower and the windows.

So I know you guys like to scour the internet for the best craft sites, and I just want to throw some of these sites out there for you guys to explore!

Here are some of the best recent articles on Crafts:

Origami Craft Ideas: Origami Wedding Craft Ideas via Craft Supplies

Customizable Cross-Stitch Projects: Cross-Stitch Projects via Martha Stewart Crafts

Fun Spring Crafts for Kids: Spring Theme Crafts via Toddler Crafts

Have fun surfing these sites guys! :)

Well I mentioned yesterday that I was altering two lamps at the same time and here's the 2nd one. :)

We've had a wonderful chrome floor lamp for a few year now and I still love the lamp, but the hubs never really liked where I put it in the family room. It blocked a speaker {the horror}. ;-)

So when I found this pretty glass number at the Salvation Army a few weeks ago, I knew just what I was going to do with it. Paint it!


So I busted out the looking glass paint from Krylon. I love and hate this paint. I love the mirror finish. I would love it more if I could get it to give me a perfect finish. Part of my problem may be the fact that I've not painted anything flat, but I still feel like my problem is not completely my fault, but moving on.

So busted out the mirror paint, and after several light coats and many, many, MANY curse words finally got the lamp to where I wanted it. Then I had a problem. What the heck color should I paint that awful brass?  Hmmm....what's this color over here? It could be  chrome or aluminum. I have no idea because the cap is missing, but the paint down the front of it is silvery so lets go with it. Its all very scientific, you know. :)

So I spray away. Ooops, apparently its aluminum. Ah well. We'll see how it goes. So then I put it all back together again and heres what I got. :)
 So lets recap:
 I am loving my new table edition. I love her girly lines {remember I'm outnumbered} and her sparkling personality. :)

So very happy with my lamp  purchases. :)

I hope you guys have a wonderful day,