Just Make Stuff

Order...

In addition to working with my mom and Sean on Wednesday's bridal shower tasks I attacked Mac's room yesterday...wanted to get all his new gifts organized and clean out the stuff he's not really using anymore. I finally corralled all of his craft supplies into one place which made me SO very happy...there really isn't anything better than a quick trip to Target for storage boxes and some quality time sitting on his bed with my label maker...Sean was helping me, but when it got to the point that I was putting tiny play-doh canisters in rainbow order he left the room shaking his head. :)

I've been making my way around the house this morning in my usual Monday routine...finishing up laundry and scrubbing down the kitchen sink...I don't know what I'll do when I start classes in a little less than a month and will have to be at school on Monday morning right after I drop Mac off...I've become way too accustomed to having the time to catch-up on what needs to be done.

So it's t-minus two days till the next party...at this point I almost have lists of to-do lists...but it's going pretty well so far...mom and I have lots of grocery shopping and cooking to do...and dozens of other things so I need to get back at it...

I wrote 7-29-96 on the check this morning...

when the carnival guy came by to pick up all the stuff we rented a little ealier...I voided it and really had to concentrate to write "07" since I've been writing 7-29-96 for the last eleven years now.

So, I just got off the phone now with Mac to say happy birthday...it's Bryce's weekend and I decided not to mess with it so I won't see Mr. Mac today, but he's off to the circus with their whole family to celebrate...right after they go to Mass which Mac told me he "wasn't thrilled about"...I told him that I thought it was cool to go to Mass and maybe he could take the time to thank God for all his blessings...he said, "Oh, true". :)

So the carnival party was pretty darn awesome if I do say so myself...I had so much help with all the games and activities between my friends and family...I looked around at one point and thought, "it takes a village" as I saw my mom and sister, my mom's best friend and her daughter, my sister's mother-in-law, Bryce and his family, our neighbors...all helping out so much whether it was running a game, serving up popcorn, or being the sucker to climb in the dunk tank. 

My dad was actually able to come for a couple of hours since he had a long layover flying out from Oklahoma on his way to the Philippines...we tried hard to convince him to get in the dunk tank, but he wouldn't...and Peg thought to have me take some pictures of mom and dad since we don't have too many of them together over the years...I really like the ones of them laughing...we were teasing dad that we were going to e-mail the photos to his wife and mom was cracking jokes about how it would have been their 36th wedding anniversary this Tuesday...I've always felt lucky that my mom made sure that she and dad still really got along...

and as the grand finale and a little extra fun for Mac I got in the dunk tank at the end of the party...

This is the relieved smile of a mom who just finished throwing a birthday party :)

Cookies & Cream Coma...

No, not the almost birthday boy that had a celebration in his classroom today...it's his mom who has been eating out of the leftover half gallon of cookies and cream ice cream almost non-stop...all the while watching Sex and the City and Grey's Anatomy DVDs and making lots of stuff...I finished all the invitations for Sean's 30th birthday next month...wanted to make sure they'd get out in plenty of time since it'll be on a holiday weekend...of course it's not the best timing with this two party week, but they're done...here's a little peek...I was struggling to come up with an idea that was truly Sean...until I thought to myself, "if Sean was a patterned paper what would he be?" and it hit me...his precious green and gold...the colors from his high school that he still holds dear...so here's my take...

The other craft is for the bridal shower...my typical crazy idea ways have led me to think that making 20 feet of patterned paper bunting in her wedding colors is something I had to do...it's getting a little tedious at this point, but it's looking pretty darn cute...

Now if I could just stay away from the ice cream... 

Seriously...

does it get any cooler than this? :)  A fake tooth and a swollen nose...I'm not gonna lie, I look pretty hot today.  It worked though...like a charm...I didn't feel the piercing at all and the guy said that was a really good thing considering it was hard for him to get the needle through the scar tissue.  I get my real crown in a couple of weeks and thankfully this temporary one isn't as noticable as I thought it was going to be...so, thankfully, I nervously worried over nothing. 

The three to-do lists and I need to start spending even more quality time together...this week is totally flying by and I know I'm not getting enough stuff done...it's the whole calm before the storm senario that spells disaster so hopefully I can get a lot more crossed off today...

I have 15 minutes...

Until I have to leave for my crown appointment at the dentist...kind of shook up about it since it's the tooth on the right side of my two front teeth...when I expressed my concern to Sean early this morning as he was leaving for work he pointed out that he had a crown right in the front of his mouth and you can't tell the difference...I guess I'm just nervous and worrying...I'm a very talented nervous worrier...I can nervously worry about anything and everything.

After the crown I'm rushing over to the tattoo parlor for nose piercing take two...it's a big day...a fake tooth and getting my "coolness" back...since Sean been teasing me that it's been gone without my nose pierced. 

Please keep your fingers crossed for me that I'm nervously worrying about nothing. :)

I need some SERIOUS to-do lists...

Okay right after I finish this post I need to spend some quality time with the clipboard on my desk.  I realized on Friday that Mac's birthday party was a week from Saturday...yet I did nothing this weekend...it was really fun though.  I cooked and baked on Saturday so that we'd have a picnic to take with us on Saturday night...the symphony was great...they played Gershwin pieces with a jazz trio and did the most astounding performance of Rhapsody in Blue.

Sunday was the typical be lazy, but get some stuff done around the house day...we went to a birthday party for one of Mac's classmates and it was the first time Sean and I really got to visit with other parents which was really nice...one of the parents mentioned going to a reunion the day before for the agency she used to adopt her daughter from Russia with...it was the same one we used so she and I had a looong chat about that...in some ways it feels like it was another lifetime ago, but at the same time I started shaking the second I realized exactly what she was talking about...I guess time hasn't healed that wound quite yet.

Mac tried riding one of his friend's razor scooters at the party and really liked it so when we got home we got Sean's scooter out of the trunk of his car for Mac to ride.  It's been in the trunk for years since Sean was finishing up his Master's Degree at Cal State Fullerton he would ride it to class...as Mac was riding it around Sean offered it to me for when I start classes there next spring, but I have no balance whatsoever so I'm going to just stick to hoofing it...Mac on the other hand totally has the hang of it...

So now it's time to buckle down and get tons of stuff done...otherwise I will be a weepy, overwhelmed mess on Friday night...going to try to avoid that at all costs...four days after Mac's party I'm helping my mom host a bridal shower at our house for her best friend's daughter which is just a couple of days before the wedding that Mac's the ring bearer for so it'll be Wednesday bridal shower, Thursday rehearsal and Friday wedding...it's going to be a crazy couple of weeks...off to make lists...   

Friday around the house...

We babysat Caleb today while my mom and sister took Mac to see Hairspray which Mac and Mom have had planned to see on the day it opened for a couple of months now...had to try and get a couple of photos...

   

other things going on...

The rose bush Sean got me for my birthday is starting to bloom

Sean always says his artistic medium is pumpkin, but I think it's house painting...when we were about to reorganize all the stuff that was hanging on the wall last Friday we (which means me) decided we (which means Sean) should paint the garage wall and use up leftover paint from our various projects...Sean told me to just let him do it...how cool is this (and amazing that all these shades of blue and green have been painted somewhere in our house in the last few years...and to think I was once scared of putting color on our walls)...it makes me not want to hang up all the gardening tools and hardware stuff back up on it

My little project...I've been wanting to switch the "welcome" out with something new so I've decided to make some random little collages...inspired by this and this...this, this, and this...oh and this too...so far I've made these...

   

Seven more to make...

A fun weekend ahead...Sean and I have are going to the symphony tomorrow night and Mac's has a friend's birthday party on Sunday...and I'm hoping to squeeze in another little trip to the beach...we'll see...

Stamps, a song, scraps, & a podcast...

just four little happy things from today...

This alphabet set...went to the china cabinet in my dining room to find something to hold them in right on top of my desk...REALLY want to make stuff with them tonight...

This song that's been playing on a local radio station...I-Tunes needs to get more of her stuff...

I made two tags I needed for birthday gifts and a little card I need to send with the leftover scraps from one of the Mac layouts

and I found this podcast...all kinds of cooking techniques

Lazy days of summer...

I was supposed to start my summer school class this past Monday, but figured out with my counselor a week or so ago that I don't have to take it so I'm free until August 27th...it's time I wasn't expecting to get so I'm extra loving it...I've been slowly catching up on Mac's scrapbook...

I found that I've neglected a shameful amount of little events and memories from the past year so I've been trying to make sure I get the photos printed out and layouts made...I usually kind of half-ass a lot of the scrapbooking in Mac's book as far as being really creative, but it's more important to have the memory recorded and there are no rules, right? :)

Other than that I've been getting stuff done around the house...the every-last-little-thing-in-it's-place kind of stuff that's making me so happy.

And I've picked flowers...

from my garden :) and put them in the Waterford vase my mom had engraved for me when she was in Ireland a few weeks ago...it's the perfect size for holding a few stems.

So needless to say I'm really loving this whole summer thing...speaking of which I need to go get ready for another concert in the park...

Zucchini Bread...

In an attempt to use up the zucchini we have coming out of our garden I search through All Recipes (I always like to find four or five star recipes that have been reviewed by a lot of people...and read the reviews too because you can get great ideas on adjustments) for a bunch of zucchini bread recipes and we tried this one...SO good...Sean has baked four loaves since Thursday and is going to make two more tonight so we've had lot to share with everyone...

Chocolate Chip Orange Zucchini Bread

Yields: 24 servings

 

Ingredients:

3 eggs

2 cups white sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups grated zucchini

1 cup chopped walnuts

1 cup semisweet chocolate

chips 1 tablespoon orange zest

3 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

 

Instructions:

Sift together flour, baking powder, soda, salt, and spices.

In a large bowl, beat eggs until light and fluffy. Add sugar, and continue beating until well blended.

Stir in oil, vanilla, zucchini, nuts, chocolate chips, and orange rind. Blend in sifted ingredients.

Turn batter into two greased 9 x 5 inch loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes, or until bread tests done.

Remove loaves from pans, and cool. Chill before slicing.

Sundays...

So we've gone to the beach now two Sunday afternoons in a row and I'm pretty sure sitting out there with a stack of magazines and some kind of picnic-y snacks is my new favorite thing to do...it's like going on a mini vacation that's only twenty minutes away...I don't know why I didn't realize this sooner having lived here almost all my life.

Got to get back downstairs...dinner is almost done...grilled tri-tip with caramelized onions and blue cheese, twice baked potatoes, and leftover zucchini pancakes from the other night (I'll post recipes soon).

I like Sundays. :)

Fun Fridays...

We decided to have Mac stay in school this summer, but it occurred to me that since Sean has every Friday off from teaching summer school that I should check and see if it'd be okay for Mac to have Fridays off too.  In order to combat that fact that it sucks to be in school during the summer I decided to make Fun Fridays...last week Mac had a play-date and this week was going to be tricky since we didn't have a lot of time before he went to Bryce's for the weekend, but it occurred to me yesterday that he's mentioned that he wanted to check out the Bower's Museum...so we went to the Kidseum for a couple of hours this afternoon.  It was basically one big room with a ton of noisy musical instruments, a bunch of tribal masks and huge paper-mache animal heads, and an area to get dressed up in a bunch of different clothes and shoes...oh and a little craft room and face painting...oh oh and about two dozen kids from a YMCA camp running amok.   For the first couple of minutes it seemed like a bust...until Mac started trying on all these different shoes...and then we hit the craft room and learned how to make pinwheels (not quite sure where I've been, but I never knew how easy they are to make...I'm seeing lots of patterned paper pinwheels in my future) & then he had his face painted like a tiger...definitely a fun Friday. :)

 

Worth the trouble...

Sean and I spent a couple of hours in the backyard yesterday and finally got it to a place I've wanted for a long time.  I cleaned off and rearranged all the pots on the patio, we moved plants and got everything I bought yesterday into the dirt...it's really starting to look full and cared for.  Phase two of this minor project is what I'm jokingly calling, "the orchard" which consists of a little space we're clearing on the side of the yard to plant the dwarf meyer lemon tree we've had in a pot on the patio for the last nine years (that's never produced a single lemon) and the dwarf lime tree purchase that was part of my troublemaking yesterday...hopefully it'll be done by tomorrow.

In the meantime here's a couple of other photos from the yard...

Mac's old wagon that we've been meaning to plant in for months...we transferred a couple of dusty millers into it that we were otherwise going to take out of the yard to see if they'll survive in there.

Our out of control zucchini plant...I'm trying to find a good chcolate zucchini bread recipe so we can keep up with it...

The first tomato is almost ready...

When I made potato salad last week I could actually say the green onion was from my garden

and some flowers. :)

This is what trouble looks like...

So yeah, I'm not going to be let out of the house for awhile...at least that's what I joked about with the people at Armstrong Gardens...of course when Sean called a little later asking how my trip there was and heard about everything I bought he said that I shouldn't be let out of the house...ah great minds think alike. :)

In my defense, one should never go plant shopping right after learning at the dentist she needs to get another crown.

This time it's on one of my front teeth that I had to have a root canal on when I was ten years old.  I was a big girl and made my appointment for Thursday morning all the while dreading the thought...especially the novocaine and having half your face numb.

Then it occurred to me...half my face would be numb...especially my nose since it's a front tooth...you following me here?

After a call to the tattoo parlor to make sure it would work I changed my crown appointment to a couple of weeks from today so that I've waited out the three week healing time the piercer suggested AND my nose will be numb when he does it. Stroke of genius I tell you...or total craziness especially when I ask my dentist to please make sure I'm really super numb the right side of my nose. :)

Two more...

Oh that was nice...

We had such a lazy weekend...I stayed in pajamas all day Saturday and scrapbooked while watching the Live Earth concert (of course Sean's "laziness" was deciding to wash down all the windows and vinyl siding on the house)...Sunday we spent the afternoon down on the beach...it felt SO good to do almost nothing.  Except I did scrapbook...eight layouts...not crazy about all of them but here they are...

   

   

   

 

The "gross" page is with a photo from Friday night...I needed another repulsive picture to document that this time I managed to jog two and a half miles...now I need to really start working on going faster since I pretty sure my "jogging" is far slower than just walking.

Thanks so much for taking the time to share all the inspiration links this weekend...loved checking in to see what you guys have found lately...the box goes to...Nicole...please e-mail me your address. :)

A potato salad blur...

I think I've managed to have a little scoop with just about every meal all week...I made more for our block party Wednesday which was a great success...the party not the potato salad...well actually I guess that was too since most of it was gone. 

We had so much fun hanging out with our neighborhood, BBQing, playing basketball and setting off tons of fireworks...now that it was our second year I think it's added to the official list of Franzen Ave traditions. 

Since then I'm thrilled to report that these are finally off in the mail...

nothing too complicated but I was inspired by a card that I saw here and thought it seemed carnival-ish (my sister came up with the idea a couple of months ago after seeing the PB Kids party stuff to have a carnival theme)...my mom also majorly helped me order a dunk tank and several actual midway games so this is shaping up to be quite a birthday party...if I didn't have to throw the darn thing I'd be pretty excited. :)

And speaking of crafting, I was lucky enough to be asked to do some this past Spring...

when I was done I saved up my extra supplies in a mailing box so I could share...I guess when I was at Camp last week this came out so it's time for me to get the box off in the mail to someone...so please feel free to post if you'd like a chance for it to end up on your doorstep...hey and since I'm pretty sure I'm going to get to be a little lazy & relaxed this weekend and actually scrapbook I would love if you included a link to a layout or something that has totally inspired you lately...on Monday morning I'll hopefully have a couple/few/many layouts to share and I'll randomly pick a comment...have a great weekend! :)

Dill Potato Salad...

This is basically my mom's recipe that I made a couple of changes to so it doesn't really have exact measurements just estimates.  My mom uses russet potatoes but I tried making it with red potatoes last week and really like it...and you don't have to peel them.

 

5 lbs potatoes boiled until soft, but still hold their shape; cooled; and cut into chunks

APPROXIMATELY…

1 cup of mayonnaise

¾ cup of sour cream

2 tsp of dried dill (but I like a lot of dill so you might want less)

½ tsp of onion powder

¼ tsp of garlic powder

¼ tsp of salt

¼ tsp of sugar (just a tiny sprinkle)

1 cup chopped celery

¼ cup minced green onion

 

Make a mixture of the mayonnaise, sour cream, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and sugar and taste to check if you need anymore since I estimated on the small side with the measurements.  In a large mixing bowl combine potatoes with celery and green onion.  Pour in mayonnaise mixture and stir well.  Refrigerate for a couple of hours or overnight before serving.

Back at home randomness...

I took this photo last month after a quick trip to the Farmer's Market, but it's a pretty accurate illustration of right now...the kitchen is full of food...good stuff...lots of fruit and vegetables and good (but not exactly good for you) stuff like homemade potato salad and a huge chunk of brie and baguettes...I love a house full of food. :)

Things I don't exactly love is the cold I'm fighting (I actually blew my nose yesterday and absentmindedly caught my nose piercing on the kleenex which took it halfway out and I couldn't get back in...so after a quick trip to the tattoo parlor it turns out my nose closed up really fast and I'll have to get it re-pierced in about three weeks...and apparently it hurts more to pierce scar tissue...that made for a GREAT day) and the gigantic mess our house is right now...it's just suffering from general Camp neglect and the half a dozen loads of clean laundry waiting to be put away...at this point it seems like it'll never get done and right about now I could really use some of the peace and serenity that only a spotless house can bring.

Other than that I've been dying to scrapbook, but I tried to appease it for now by making a new blog banner yesterday...I'll get to really scrapbook after I get a bunch of stuff done...for instance I need to get stuff ready for tomorrow's 4th of July block party and I NEED to get Mr. Mac's birthday invitations off in the mail since his party is in just over three weeks...which means I need to start them...which means I need to figure out exactly how I want to make them...oh and I was going to do another 31 things monthly update yesterday too, but I scanned over the list and basically haven't accomplished anything in the past month beside Camp...speaking of which here's another happy photo...

 

Loved when I'd catch someone writing that their favorite program was Journal. :) 

All good things must come to an end...

It was a great year...heck it was a great fourteen years, but it had to end sometime and last week was the perfect way to do it.  It's one of those things I could talk endlessly about, but for now I'll just share a few of the 2,220 photos we took this week...

I'll try and share more throughout the week...