The Katniss Braid

Despite all the hoopla around the book and movie "The Hunger Games" I have yet to read the book or see the movie. Its not that I'm not interested in it, because I am, Its the pure fact that I have 2 kids and a husband who works odd hours and isn't always home when a baby sitter is available. I have it on good authority though, that my friend Amy will take me to see the movie soon. So until that day, I am reduced to watching youtube clips and searching for ways to look like Katniss on pinterest.
During one of my searches I came across the Katniss braid which I didn't even know she had because i haven't seen the movie. Let me tell you, its awesome and fairly easy to do, if you know how to french braid.

So, sitting in front of my computer after watching a tutorial on how to do such braids (Which in my opinion is self explanatory) I braided my hair. Just like that. Usually when I do anything to my hair without watching what i'm doing in the mirror it looks like poo, but this time I was extremely surprised. I must have channeled my inner Katniss since it was actually a braid that was worth wearing out in public. To bad it was 7:30 at night and I was home alone with the kids. A waist of a good braid.

Makes me want to grow my hair longer so the braid can wrap around my shoulder more. Good thing that's what I was planing on doing before this happened. 

After I put the kids to bed, I felt ambitious, still channeling my inner Katniss I found an outfit that I could pull off.

I had a pair of green pants from my teen-hood that were a little wide legged but I could fix that and a pair of boots that wen't a little higher up the leg. Last but not least, I unfortunately couldn't find a black v neck t-shirt, so that will be my next thrift store hunt with maybe some shorter boots.

So, to sum it all up. I've got the Katniss hair and half the outfit, now all I need to do is learn how to shoot a bow and arrow. Maybe I'll stick with reading the book, it sounds a little less dangerous.

Cheesy Turkey Panini

I came across this yummy picture of a cheesy pizza panini and it looked so yummy I had to try it.
Now, I can't eat a lot of carbs, so if I was going to splurge on this sandwich it needed to be packed full of protean and veggies to make it worth my while.








Here is what I used:

1. Fresh spinach leaves
2. Tomato
3. Mozzarella cheese (YUM!)
4. Deli turkey breast
5. Real butter
6. Sourdough English muffin

So first I cut the English muffin in half and buttered both sides. Why they call it an English muffin instead of a bun I do not know. Then I put a nice layer of cheese on one side. then on goes the spinach and tomato, followed by a nice big heap of turkey. I topped it all off with another layer of cheese and then placed it in the oven on a cookie sheet for 10 minutes on 400.

Here is what mine looked like fresh out of the oven.

They turned out a lot thicker since I put a lot more on them, but they were really flavor full and yummy and really good for you too. I would make them again.

DIY pillow case

Sara here. I've been doing a lot of planing about how I wan't my bedroom to look. It is one of the last rooms in our house that we haven't done anything to until now. We just painted to walls an apricot color and the trim a deep chocolate. It makes the wood paneling on the other walls more bearable since I haven't been convinced that painting them would make them look better. So I was surfing Pinterest one day when I came across these awesome pillow cases that would look great in my bedroom and just screamed "ME."

I've never made pillow cases before but they didn't look to hard so I deemed this my newest project and off I went.

I wanted to make pillow shams so they wouldn't be open on the side like the picture above, but I couldn't find a tutorial for them so I was stuck with a normal pillow case. But finding a tutorial for that was hard too. I finally found a simple one that didn't have a weird seem or flowers on them.

Of course I didn't make them with the flower garnish because I hate flowers, especially in my bedroom, but the pattern was perfect. 

So I went to the fabric store on my lunch break from work (Its a great thing I work only a block away) and picked up a green cotton fabric and a cream cotton fabric, a yard each.

I then cut the fabric into 71/2 inch by 36 inch strips.There were six of each and it used all my fabric so there was non left over. 

I sewed the strips together to make stripes. and then followed the pillow pattern above. If you would like to see it click here.

After I had sewn two striped pillow cases I then needed to write on them. I purchased a fabric marker and used stencils I already had laying around. I got the idea from here,

This is a really cool idea and was really easy to do. Make sure you set the marker by running a hot iron over it before you wash it, or the marker will wash out.

So here is my finished product.

I can't wait to finish the other one and see how they look with the rest of my bedding.

Have fun!

Happy birthday!!!

Happy birthday to my co writer and best friend Donella. I thought I would give you this awesome cake but since I can't make a cake that looks like the one above I also thought I would give you a picture of a cake that I could actually make, if we were able to eat it that is.

Since you can't go to Disney land this year for your big day, due to unforeseen events, I thought I would remind you all about last time we wen't to Disney land together. I Figured if you relived the memories, it would almost be like you were there... Sorta... Maybe... Ok not really, but here we go.

Our first day at Disney land. We were so excited, you can just see it in our faces. The very first ride we went on was space mountain and the look on our faces was priceless when we saw the picture after words. It looked something like this,

We really should have bought that photo, it was priceless.

We did lots of great things that day and then when we went back to the hotel your mom bought us pizza,

I found the nutritional facts for that stuffed crust cheese pizza that we managed to eat the entire thing, I'm surprised we survived.  

The next day we went on the Indiana Jones ride that was almost completely deserted even though we had fast pass tickets too, ironic I know. The guys that were working the ride were kinda cute and made some stupid comments about our animal backpacks. We went on the ride and screamed at everything just for the sake of screaming because there wasn't anyone around. We saw those guys later and they remembered us. Highlight of my day. 

We also bought these awesome head bands,

They looked great on your dad by the way.

So don't feel down that you're another year older and don't get to enter the magical kingdom. Its not the end of the world. Heck, I haven't been to Disney land since we were 16 and you don't see me complaining. I will though leave you with these words of wisdom to carry you through this new year.

Happy birthday!!!!

Chores, who's turn is it?

It's me again, Sara.

My husband and I got in a big fight the other night about who was doing their fair share of the chores around the house. He said that I didn't do anything unless he did something, and I told him that he never did anything and I ended up doing it all myself on my weekend. It got ugly quick and we knew we needed to find a solution since this wasn't the first time we've fought over the subject.

I did some research on our favorite webpage Pinterest to find out what other people were doing about this problem. I was amazed to find out that there wasn't a lot of solutions for adults out there.

I'm a little disappointed really. This isn't an isolated incident between me and my husband, there are a lot of other people out there experiencing this, so I wanted to share our solution so lets get down to the nitty gritty about chores.

Here it is folks, the chore chart. Its actually been working well in the short term. Only time will tell in the long term. So here is what we did.

• I split up the days between me and my husband. Since there are only two of us and seven days in a week that insured that we would get different chores every week.
• I assigned a chore to each day. Living room every Monday, Garbage on Tuesday, Laundry on Wednesday and so on and so forth.
• Then we agreed that every day that we didn't have a chore, we would make dinner. So on Monday when I was cleaning the living room my husband was making me dinner (Tacos, nom nom!)
• Last but not least, the dishes in our house are out of control. I don't know how it happens since there are only four of us and we aren't home during the day most days, but it does. We decided to do dishes every night after dinner together.

There are several good things about doing house work together. You get a chance to talk about your day, and talking, as we all know, is good for the relationship and you have an odd sense of accomplishment at the end of the day. Plus don't forget that you're not sitting in a trash heap that you call home.

I also found a few chore idea's for kids that would work for adults as well if you wanted to adapt them to your life style.

I wouldn't mind trying this one

This could get a little kinky :)

Any way that you work it out, make sure that both you and your other are on board, it wont work otherwise. So spend time talking, cooking and cleaning together, it makes a big difference. 

DIY crochet boot cuffs

Sara here. This is such a great idea. I always hate wearing thick socks in my boots cause they make the boots too tight and uncomfortable. But these boot cuffs are amazing and really easy to make. Mine don't look the same because these ones are knit and I crochet, but it works.

Theirs and Mine

I used a H 5.00MM hook and grey 50% acrylic 50% wool yarn. You will also need a yarn needle and scissors. 

Chain (C) 12

Double crochet (DC) in second chain from hook

DC next 9, chain 2

*Front post stitch next row, c2

dc next row, chain 2*

repeat from * till the length wraps around your upper calf tightly

Tie off the end but leave a long tail for sewing

Using your yarn needle, sew the two ends together, creating the top half of the cuff

attach a single crochet on the seam and continue with the single crochet all the way around the rim

C1 and repeat single crochet until desired length is achieved.

Second Hand Saturday

Today we decided to look for outfits that we liked on our pinterest pages. We both picked out a picture we liked and hit the stores. Here are the pictures we chose for ourselves......          

Donella: So this is what we ventured out for, not an easy task. I loved the pleated skirt above and denim or maybe just blue men's button up shirt. Any who, I didn't really have any interest in the heels since I am tall enough and have no desire to be 6 inches taller than my man. :P So a cute pair of ballet flats or perhaps a more modest pair of heels as far as height is concerned would be cute.

Sara: I've been trying to find this certain jacket since last Monday, since I saw my sister-in-law wear something similar. Its been really frustrating because everywhere I look they're not selling winter coats anymore. Sigh! On the other hand I wanted a really cool polka dot blouse with maybe a sweater over it. I didn't care if it was polka dot or not. I'm not a heel person but I could have paired it with boots maybe.


Donella: Off we went to the first second hand store. I found a cute polka dot skirt that I was a little iffy on whether I would wear it or not. So I carried it around the store, looking to see if I could possible find a cute button up top to pair it with. But alas, I did not, and could not justify spending $8.99 on a skirt that was in decent shape, not that the skirt was expensive, it really wasn't.

Sara: I used to love the "Red, White and Blue" thrift store. My mom always took us there as kids so it holds lots of memories for me. I wanted to try and find some pants while I was there but there are rows and rows of just blue jeans and they aren't in any order so you have to look at every single pair of pants to find the right size. That got old quick. I did find a really cute navy blue pleated skirt with buttons up one side. I think it was $5.99. To make a long story short, the line to check out was way to long to buy just one item each and not moving fast enough for my taste, so we left without purchasing anything.


Donella: I don't really think it was that big of a deal, I don't feel like I missed out now, you know not purchasing the skirt. So off to the next store, after getting out of the parking lot that is a serious pain in the but to drive in out of. (Sara was driving, but I would hate that parking lot if it were me). So yes off to the second store, while looking around we got to hear some lady talking on her cell, about whoever was on the other end of the line "May have drank to much". While looking down the aisle with lady that was having a very loud conversation on her cell phone, I came across an adorable mustard yellow sweater, (I'm just a little obsessed with the mustard yellow color). It was $6.99 and was totally worth trying on (I hate trying clothes on).


Sara: Ok, so the lady on the cell was a little weird and talked way to loud, but don't forget the horrid smell hanging around the skirt section. One word, Rancid!  I had to come back to the skirts a while later. Right as we entered the store though, I spotted the jacket rack. I didn't have very high hopes that I would find what I was looking for, but you never know till you try. There it was, all alone. It said to me "Take me home," a close replica of the jacket I was looking for, it was made by Matix and cost $12.99, how could I not buy it for such a deal? All though it didn't have the flannel lining that I wanted and it wasn't forest green, it was still cute. Maybe I can figure out how to give it a flannel lining. 


Donella: Yes that rancid smell that YOU (Sara) accused me of crop dusting you! Yes there was that incident, and let's not forget when you made a comment about a certain jacket (That looked like something a "Lady of the Street" might wear, if you know what I mean....) After I yelled at you, (while quietly laughing to myself ) about how someone might hear you, and that random little old lady giggling at us as she walked off. So Sara found her jacket. Which is awesome because a few weeks ago I found an awesome coat for $12.99 at a Salvation Army, it was AMAZING, plus it was a BB Dakota jacket. Not the infamous Bella Jacket, you know that chick from Twilight? Yeah she wears it in the first movie, you "twihards" Know what I am talking about.
So Back to the more decent smelling skirt section, I found an adorable pink skirt with colorful spring like flowers on it, the skirt was on $3.99 it would be super cute with a simple white T-shirt, belt and ballet flats or sandals. Maybe even a cardigan for the colder days. I also found some cute brand new fringe sandals for $2.99 that would absolutely be warn this coming summer, and fill my current boho obsession.

Sara: I apologize for my inappropriate comment. On the other hand, I also found a really cute grey sweater for $3.99 that's a little on the baggy side, but would go great with some skinny jeans and some flats. I also picked up a green plaid Old Navy skirt that makes my legs look great that was $3.99. I could pair it with a nice natural colored blouse this summer with some sandals and we'd have a winner. I couldn't help but go to Payless shoes and pick up a knock of pair of converse that are all black and suede. Awesome!


Donella: So all in all I would say our shopping day was pretty darn successful. I ended up spending $13.97 on today's shopping expedition. Including my awesome BB Dakota jacket I found a couple of weeks ago the total cost of everything was $26.96. Not too bad, considering most jeans cost more than that.
Afterwards Sara and I took some nifty pics of us in our awesome new jackets for y'all down at my old High Schools football field that isn't too far away. It was cold, so cold..... You better enjoy the pics. :P

Sara: I only spent $23.72. Which is great! I wasn't too cold down at the football field, but there were some lacrosse boys down there making me a little self conscious, so we didn't stay long. It was a good day and I hope you enjoy the photos.