Just one of those days...

Today was just one of those days. ..

It is days like today that I really question my sanity.  Boys acting fresh. Dog acting crazy.  Driving ME crazy!!

They ONLY look sweet and innocent ;)

My Weekend..

How was everyone's weekend?  Mine was amazing :)

We went to the Naval Air Show on Saturday with friends and it was spectacular.  All of my boys had so much fun watching the planes do dives, loops and corkscrews.  The jets were so loud I could FEEL the noise.  You know what I mean?

Beside the airplanes they also had a grounded Fed Ex plane you could walk on and military boats, etc. Of course Nolan LOVED the guns.  Seriously...

There was also a Jeep Exploration Area where you could test drive new Jeeps, climb a rock wall and the kids could test drive Jeep Power Wheels. So cool..

Nolan trying to "parallel park"... his words not mine ;)

Here are some photos of the planes...

Sneak Attack

Mission Accomplished!

This is SO cool!  Thumbs up!

Go NAVY! (haha... shameless I know)

And here we all are after a looong day...



Fall Wreath a la Wally World

Good Morning All!!  Hope you are having a great Wednesday.

I took the summer wreath down off of my front door last week and every day since then I have longed for a beautiful fall wreath to replace it.  It did not help matters that my neighbors two doors down had a nice, full wreath hanging on their front door.  It taunted me as I drove by...  "Don't you wish you had a pretty wreath on your ugly, plain, old door?Well you CAN'T!" {sticks tongue out at me}. {Does anyone else ever feel like that?}

I had looked in Dollar Tree for some foliage but really didn't see anything I liked.

And then I went to Wal-mart.

They had the Better Homes and Garden Brand grapevine wreaths for $3.50!! I thought that was a great deal and I snagged one of those.

Then I looked at the faux flowers.  The selection was definitely not as big as Michael's but the prices were great.  I got two bunches of Better Homes and Garden flowers for $5.00 each.  I was sooo excited.

One Bunch of Flowers

I did not take pictures of my process but basically just stuck things where I thought they looked good.  I used a little bit of floral wire (which I already had on hand) but mostly just hooked the stems through the wreath.  I like doing it this way because I can change anything I want down the road easily. Here she is in all her glory...

I added the wooden Welcome sign after I hung it on the hanger.  It is not attached.

A close up of some of the flowers.

And one more for good measure :)

So what do you think? I think it looks pretty good from the street and I am happy with it so it is all good.  Plus for $13.50 you cannot beat that.  Really, I only used one bunch of flowers because I prefer leaving some of the grapevine wreath exposed so truly this wreath only cost $8.50.  I used the other bunch in that pitcher in my dining room.  I love all the warm fall colors it brings to the space.

And because he has FINALLY started smiling (sort of) at the camera here is my Bubby...

Bubby loves him some Thomas!!

So what about you?  Do you have wreaths on your front door?  Any other fall decor out yet? Do you stalk your neighbors' front doors?

Linking up to Stephanie Lynn @ Under the Table and Dreaming,
                    Melissa @ 320 Sycamore and
                    Allison @ House of Hepworths

Never Forget!

Hi All,

Just wanted to let you know that Sarah from Thrifty Decor Chick has a wonderful picture post on The Ground Zero Museum in New York City.  Her pictures definitely made me cry. I wanted to share the link so you could go check it out. 

My Signature

I mentioned a few days ago how simple it was to recreate my own header by using Beth's Scrapblog Tutorial.  Well I also updated my signature.  I have never been a huge fan of what I had before- the tag with the butterfly.  It always looked off to me.  I like what I have now much better. I feel like it ties into my header. Once again I used Scrapblog to help me create it.

After I made my signature, I saved it in the program and published it.  Then exported the image and saved it my computer. {Tell me is that totally confusing?} Clarification HERE. I just found a video tutorial on Beth's site on how to use Scrapblog.  It is about halfway down the post.

Once it was on my computer I uploaded the image onto Photobucket. I sized my signature to 125x125. Then I turned to Kevin & Amanda to help me out. They explain how to add your already created signature to your blog. They make updating your blog so easy. 

Step by step.

Pictures. 

Big red circles and large arrows detailing how to get er done.

Trust me I so need all of the above.  Here you can find how to add a signature to every post on your blog.

If you look around they also have free fonts and other cool tutorials on how you can bling up your blog.  Looking around you can see I have NOT taken advantage of that.  Haha :)  Perhaps one day?

Good Luck!

New Header

Well, people the day has come.

I recreated my header.  Since I have now made my blog public and have SIX followers {You ladies ROCK!!}  (and yes I am totally congratulating myself right now)...I'll pause for you to finish rolling your eyes....

I figured I needed to remove my last name from the header.  I know y'all probably don't even notice but I though it just wasn't appropriate anymore.  Hubbie's job can be affected by home life, and with two small boys, I just want to be responsible.  I basically kept it the same just removed the last name and added when we were "established" as a family.

In a previous post I had detailed- and to be clear by detailed I mean linked to another blog- how I created my own header.  If you are interested you can look HERE.  Or you could just skip that and go right to the source The Stories of A 2 Z.  If you haven't been by her blog yet you really should check her out. Honestly, Beth is such an inspiration to me :)

So all in all nothing crazy. BTW, let me just say that the six of you really make me smile.  Just seeing that ridiculous number six is such an accomplishment.  Did any of you feel that way?  How did you react when your list of followers began to grow?

Make Your Own Taco...

Tonight I made tacos for me and the boys.  I think it is a cheap, easy and super yummy dinner so I try to make these once a month.  I used to buy those little packets with the spices all ready to mix into your meat.  Then my mom passed on this simple recipe to replace the packet.  Not only is it better for you... no disgusting preservatives, etc. but it tastes even better.  I promise :)

Here are my ingredients:

Mix all the ingredients into a bowl...

And add to your cooked meat along with 2/3 cup of water. Let this mixture simmer over low heat until all the juices are sucked up...cooked off... whatever :) I prefer to use ground chicken but it tastes just as yummy on ground beef.

Here it is all done...

And here are all the fixins' this girl needs with her tacos...

Side Note-
Just want to give a shout out to my girl Cholula... best freakin hot sauce around...try her out. :)

My plan was to take a beauty shot of my taco so you could see how delish it all looked but I encountered two problems... Numero uno- I actually crumble my hard shell and put all the fixins on as a taco salad.  Numero dos?  I shoved it into my face so fast I actually forgot... oops :)

Ok, here is the recipe:

Taco Seasoning

1 Tbl Chili Powder

1/4 tsp Garlic Powder

1/4 tsp Onion Powder

1/4 tsp Crushed Red Pepper Flakes

1/4 tsp Dried Oregano

1/2 tsp Paprika

1 1/2 tsp Cumin

1 tsp Sea Salt

1 tsp Black Pepper

I am all out of dried oregano so I substituted italian seasoning. Also, the cumin gives this a little more zip than my two year old can handle, so I reduce the amount from one and a half teaspoons to half a teaspoon.

Please let me know if you try this recipe how you like it. Enjoy :)



Linking up to Weekend Bloggy Reading over at Serenity Now and Feature Yourself Friday at Fingerprints on the Fridge. Go check them out!!

Also, linking to Under the Table and Dreaming.

Linking to Fingerprints on the Fridge

Hurricane Earl

Yup, here I am talking about the weather :)

We made it through Hurricane Earl unscathed... yippee! 

Honestly, the worst part of Earl was the anticipation and the ruckus it caused. People stocking up on water, canned good, batteries and gas.  It took me thirty minutes to get to the pump at BJs.  Which was totally worth it because I only paid $2.36/gallon!!!  I don't know if anyone else out there has gas for cheaper but here that is great.

In other great news... hubbie comes home in one week!!!  YAY!  We then have him to ourselves (except workdays) for two and a half weeks :)

Because I don't have much else to say I thought I would leave you with one of the most beautiful places I have been...

Have a great weekend!!