I’m no stranger to leaving post its & little love notes & sweet nothings around the house.

I bought 2 dozen eggs at the Dollar Tree and filled each one with a strip of paper with “Things I like about you.*” Like “You always open the door for me.” “You can have a conversation with ANYBODY.” “Your smile.”

Then hid them all over the house. A few easy ones in plain sight, so he’d realize what was happening. And a few VERY difficult ones. I hid one in a pocket of a dress shirt, that he would never find until he decided to wear that particular shirt. I loved this for 2 reasons.

1. It drove him crazy knowing there was one egg left that he hadn’t found yet.

2. He found it weeks after the egg hunt had been forgotten & he had a sweet note.

The 2nd year we were together we were newly engaged and almost married. I used the same idea, but filled the eggs with all the different names he was to me. This one was a little sillier. For example, “Fiancee.” “My Love.” “My Boo.” “My Future Husband.” “Best Friend.” “My (future) Baby Daddy.”

Last year, Egg Hunt #3, I found out his favorite childhood Easter candy was egg shaped gum & filled each egg with a couple pieces. This was one of my personal favorites, because the look on his face when he realized there was gum in each egg and then the crazed fury to find ALL of them IMMEDIATELY. It gave me a small glimpse into our future with children…and Easter egg hunts.

I love this idea, because it cost $2 four years ago, it’s SUPER EASY and became a fun tradition. This would be a great alternative to candy for kiddos. Especially if you’re a Words of Affirmation kind of gal like I was/am.

The options are endless:

-Date night ideas

-IOU’s: “IOU double high fives” “IOU an uninterrupted episode of Star Trek.” “IOU a 30 second hug,”

-Quips: “I think you’re EGG-cellent!”"SomeBUNNY thinks you’re amazing.” “You make my heart HOPPY.”

-Glow stick eggs & a midnight hunt

-Bucket List “Road Trip” “Read Hunger Games together” “Go Fishing”

-Things you appreciate: “When you unload the dishwasher.” “Take the trash out.”

-Words of encouragement: ”You’re a wonderful provider.” “Best listener I know.”

OR if you’re feeling crazy a little bit of everything!

I’ll let you know what Easter Egg #4 ends up being!

*I had done this previously a few months into the relationship. Except with cut out stars and taped them throughout the house after he had had an especially stressful work week out of town. It never gets old. I’m always thinking of new things I like about him and who doesn’t need to hear them.

In other news, I quit my job back in September 2011 (hallelujah!) I will always be a teacher, but I NEEDED to get out of the classroom. I loved teaching, but IT WAS TIME after 10 years. Working with children drains you on every level & you end up at a very scary place. I didn’t like the kids anymore. This is especially true when you have a co-teacher that is equally draining & unhelpful. You get tired of questions and you wish for a solid 60 seconds of silence to process anything. Tears have NO affect on you. The cynical side of you starts to take over. You find yourself in a argument with a spoiled, disrespectful 4 yr old about putting the lid on markers, because it’s part of “taking care of what you have”, when all you can think about is spanking that child and saying “Put the lid on the marker, because I’m an adult and I asked you too” through clenched teeth.

Yeah. It was time for me to move on. It’s like being a single parent to 20 children, but you have to raise each one with a different set of rules that you don’t get to make. I’m proud to say I made it 10 years.

My new job is very part time teaching gymnastics to preschoolers :::insert ironic laugh here::: Yes, I’m still working with preschoolers, but it’s different. Each class is only 45 minutes. I’m in various schools with different age groups, so I still satisfy that “teaching thirst” but I get to walk away before that “if I was your mother…” feeling starts to set in.

I quit my job. Turned 30 years old, went to NYC. Celebrated the holidays, sold Sally Mae :::sniff:::, and basically started 2012 in a very different place, although geographically I’m still in the same place.

The THREE  sewing machines that were bequeathed to me are antiques. The chance that one of the THREE sewing machines work is probable, but not likely. When I say they’re antiques, they are the size of a night stand and the sewing machine folds up and down with a flip top method. I have THREE of them.

Both of my grandmothers left me their sewing machine and the third one was an add on to one of the others. Now that I live in my own house, my mom has called and basically said

“Remember those THREE gigantic sewing machines? They’re in MY garage. What would you like me to do with them? I can bring them to you!”

Well, here’s my thing. I don’t want or need THREE sewing machines, but they are sentimental and I learned how to sew on one of these behemoths.

This is how I found myself standing in my mother’s garage scratching my head.

I mentioned keeping the one I learned to sew on and “Craig’s listing”  the other two, but after some research they were only going for about $75-$100 and being used for parts in most cases.

Cue the sad mom face.

That’s when we decided to keep them in the family. I would take one, mom would keep one and my brother and his fiancee would take the last one.

THREE sewing machine solution!

Except now I have a sewing machine that doesn’t work, so I did some research on amazon and found a little portable guy for $84.

I checked with the Husband & he said buy it (after reasonably pointing out I recently had THREE sewing machines.)

I bought it. Shipping was free & it was delivered to my house in 2 days.

2 DAYS people.

I have it right now.

Much sooner that what I anticipated.

I am unprepared to sew on it.

I have no fabric, so maybe a little more of a thought process should have happened.

Although, thumbs up to the amazon shipping guys or elfs or whatever it is that makes amazon magical.

Now…

something to sew.

 The whole point of pinterest is to “pin” ideas that in inspire you. Well, I’ve pinned 761 pins, but have yet to actually complete any of them.

Once a week I’m challenging myself to complete one pin.

This weeks challenge:

MASON JAR SOAP PUMP

 And here’s how mine turned out:

I’m pretty happy with results & except for a faulty pump the first go round, it was super easy.

I used a corkscrew to make a hole, needle nose pliers to make the whole bigger and trimmed the tubing to fit the jar. Then I just slipped the pump in and voila! Free soap dispenser.

Em: Date Night bike ride/pool party/dance party. Well riding bikes & playing in the pool were canceled due to rain. But we followed up with a dance party in our living room. Yes I did my hair and make up & put on my heels just to booty dance with my husband whilst listening to pandora. It was FREE & we laughed  A LOT & it felt good to let loose & get goofy.

Alex: Dinner at Marios (the name has been changed) AH-mazing restaurant in local lakeland. Very small & intimate. If you’re looking for a good anniversary celebration, this is your place. It’s reservation only & it’s all about the experience. Dinner was about 3 hours, but the ambiance is super romantic, the food delicious & they had a live guitarist (as opposed to the dead ones) It’s pretty expensive, but worth it for a special occasion.

Alex: The Silver Moon Drive In (wink) SO. MUCH. FUN. a) it’s super cheap. ($4 a person, $2 on Thursday nights) b) It’s shows retro movie concession stand ads. c) The movies are new releases. d) it’s .07 seconds from our house! Also, we tried but we don’t get the station in our driveway. Although there was an accident and we were stuck in traffic & were able to listen to X-Men one evening.

I’m pretty happy so far. I don’t know which one was my favorite.

.painting

.work

.LGI

.bikes

.pinterest

.books

Just so I don’t forget. There are a lot of things to talk about. We’ll sort of start at the most recent and work our way backwards.

4th of July “2011 style” was busy with painting and not so much grilling and fireworks. However, I did grill teriyaki salmon with zucchini, squash & wild rice. We did not get to see fireworks, but that was by choice. The night we intended on going there was a horrendous thunderstorm. I had the 4th off, so I decided to use that time wisely and paint our bedroom AND kitchen : ) Talk about biting off more than you can chew. I started Sunday night cutting in on the bedroom. I spent Monday morning “hanging out” with the Lowes paint crew & by hanging out I mean impatiently waiting. My mom came over to help paint and we actually completed the kitchen. It is a lovely jewel- tone-greenish-blue color. Gorgeous. I won’t bother with a picture, because it won’t come close to the actual color. Alex helped finish off the bedroom once he arrived home from work. The bedroom is a soothing pale blueish-green color.

We were able to go to Little Gasparilla Island (LGI) for a long weekend (2 full days, 3 nights, 2 half days :::sniff:::) If it’s not a full 7 days then it’s not long enough…(that’s what she said.) It was magical. I was able to walk the beach with my super handsome husband, eat a lot of good food, sunsets, boating and most important spend time with some of my most favorite people in the world. Made it hard to leave. I needed the break from work. Needed may be an understatement. I was in dire need of mental, emotional, physical rejuvenation. I needed 7 months on the island.

Work has been a bit of work lately. I try not to be a complainer, but my darling husband has been doing quite a bit of listening. My co-workers have different work ethic than I do. Maybe I have a work ethic and they are squinting at it from where they sit. I mean I would probably be more productive/easier without dragging dead weight. A lot of work goes into being a preschool teacher. Planning daily activities for the week that meet the school criteria, implementing those activities while trying to teach something to 20 children. Hoping to God that one of the children is getting what you’re saying/acting out/singing. I LOVE. being a preschool teacher. I’m awesome at it. It’s like my special talent. BUT… after 5 years… I’m just feeling very unhappy. I wonder if there were different circumstances (a helpful teacher) if I would feel differently. I’m not just unhappy, I’m constantly frustrated, stressed, exhausted to the point that I haven’t been feeling well. I’m not a quitter, but I really wish I had another option right now. I haven’t even tipped the top of the iceberg, but this has been building for a while. I’m not quitting. I don’t feel right about it. There are too many people out there without jobs. I wish 2 of them were my co-workers.

Husband decided that to relieve some work stress I should exercise/find a hobby, so I bought a bike. It’s a Schwinn. I named her Taylor, because she’s Swift. And Taylor Swift Schwinn has a nice ring to it. I don’t ride with Husband because he’s crazy insane biker that rides 80 miles in one day. That’s like riding to China and back. The only downfall to the exercise/bike/hobby is that I bought 2 days before monsoon season.

However my book hobby has picked up. I’m currently reading Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult (it’s about amish people) and Dick Van Dykes memoir (about Dick Van Dyke.) I just finished House Rules by Jodi Picoult (it’s about a boy with Aspergers Syndrome that is accused of murder.) And next on my book list and probably the one I’m most excited about is Dreams of Joy by Lisa See (sequel to Shanghai Girls.) I’m not really a Jodi Picoult fan, but a friend loaned me Vanishing Acts & I was desperate enough to read anything and she’s really is a great writer. I refuse to read My Sisters Keeper or any sappy love stories, but so far I’ve been pleased.

My other hobby is pinterest. DO IT!!! It’s so much fun/addicting. It’s basically an online bulletin board of ideas that you create! It’s one of my favorite things to talk about.

like learning french,

or organizing my kitchen,

or making dinosaur tails for my kids at work, but alas, I have not done any of those things.

I have spent huge amounts of time on PINTEREST, because I may have a small, obsessive, healthy, creative habit forming.

I L.O.V.E pinterest. so. so. so. much.

I’m a very visual person, so when I find something clever on the inter-webs I usually forget about it or drag a picture of to my desktop or type a brief explanation in a word document, never to remember it again. Well, the genius of pinterest is when you find something clever like marshmallow shooters out of a balloon and solo cup, you “pin it” to a board.

Really everyone should try it. It’s great fun…unless you are my husband who is a bit of a minimalist and would probably have 1 board with 1 pin.

When I haven’t been on pinterest I’ve:

planted 2 hydrangeas in our front yard,

contemplated quitting my job & writing children’s books,

started a collage in our dining room,

bought paint samples for the kitchen, bedroom, laundry room & guest bedroom,

thought about extreme couponing, but I really don’t want 55 tubs of butter,

celebrated Mother’s Day with an awesome brunch,

Mom’s birthday with a day at Lowry Park Zoo and dinner,

done a little Christmas shopping, but don’t hate, it’s been VERY little

And that’s about it.

Except Ale-john-dro and myself are doing Summer Date Nights. Every other weekend one of us will plan a date night for the summer. I’ve done the math and there are… take a deep breath… only 12 weekends in the summer.

TWELVE. that’s it.

So 6 dates apiece. I’ve already got some cleverly planned dates up my sleeve, so the Mister better look out.

Seriously, I had a moment today when I wanted to give a number of “grown ups” who were remarkably acting like children the finger.

The whining.

Complaining.

Excuses.

Manipulations.

At least with kids they’re honest with you. They tell you like it is…

Why is your forehead so big?

Onions make your breath smell bad.

You eat A LOT.

You’re OLDDDDDDDDD.

Okay, so I’ve met some kids who are

whiners.

complainers.

excuse makers.

manipulators.

But they’re kids. And…I’m sorry, but aren’t these ALL LEARNED BEHAVIORS.

I’d rather hang out with 4 year olds, because they may whine, but you can give them an imaginary strawberry and all is right in the world.

They may complain, but you can distract them felt boards and they won’t remember why they were complaining in the first place.

They may make excuses, but they are ridiculous excuses, like “I can’t clean up because I bought a horse yesterday.” and give you a good laugh.

They may be manipulative, but ultimately, they have to listen to you, because you are the grown up.

And you are going to whine about life, and complain about your day and make up excuses about your child’s behavior and manipulate a situation to get the results you want.

And you know what…

NO ONE CARES!

I nod.

I uh-huh in the right places.

I make eye contact.

I don’t care. I’d rather be playing with play dough.

At first I was going to make an Angry Bird, but once I REALLY thought about it I realized how ridiculous that would be, so instead I decided on an Angry Birds pig.

You know the one. Round, green, annoying and egg greedy. If you’re going to hit something it should be the pig. Except hitting a Pig with a bat isn’t right. You have to sling Angry Birds at it, so….

Enter part 2 of the plan:

Paint rocks to look like Angry Birds.

Let nephew slingshot Angry Bird rocks into Pig pee-ya-ta.

Genius! I KNOW!

First thing I did was research AB pee-ya-tas and found out they sell for SEVENTY NINE DOLLARS!

Definitely making one.

Since I’m a preschool teacher, I’m pretty handy with paper mache. I’ve made pee-ya-tas before, so I was excited for another creative opportunity to hone my mad skills.

I actually made 2 pee-ya-tas. The first a disaster.

Paper mache consists of cut up newspapers, flour and water. That’s it. (You mix flour and water until you get a paste and dip strips of paper into it.)

First go round, I used 2 glass bowls and was going to seal the seams to make 1 perfect round orb, BUT the paper mache came off in chunks.

I made a quick dash to Target, bought a ball for $2 and started over.

The key to paper mache is to criss cross the newspaper and LET IT DRY!!!

Once that was done I popped the ball inside and watched it deflate. I was a little worried, because as the ball deflated the paper mache shell seemed SUPER THIN. In a frenzied act of panic I began layering again hoping beyond hopes that it wouldn’t change the unsupported shape. Fingers crossed and fervent prayers worked, because it held it’s shape and was perfectly sturdy.

Now the nose and ears. I took the soaked newspaper strips, balled them up and began forming pig ears and a nose. This was probably the most tedious of the whole process. Trying to get the ears somewhat equal and getting the heavy nose to stay long enough for it to dry.

(I actually pried off the nose and ears from the first pee-ya-ta and stuck it to the second.) 

Once everything was dry I started painting and VOILA!

I wish that I could tell you I photographed painting the rocks, but those were painted the morning of the event and I was rushing and hoping they would dry in time.

I’m pretty stoked with how they turned out!

When the time came to bust the pee-ya-ta, I was worried it would bust on the 1st throw or take Yovani Gallardo to make a dent. It took my 5 year old nephew about 15 minutes to bust it all the way, so I feel like it was a huge success all around! 

I added a few Easter Eggs inside filled with goodies like the golden eggs from the game.

The total cost to make the pee-ya-ta was LESS THAN FIVE DOLLARS. The ball was $2 and I had to buy a bag of flour, because I don’t bake. It took me approximately 45 minutes to make the whole pee-ya-ta. It’s a stretched out 45 minutes, because you have to let it dry between layers.

I’d say that’s a WIN.