Elf on the Shelf - Day 1

On Sunday Santa had a special package delivered to us: our very own Elf on the Shelf! I couldn't wait to begin the tradition with my family so B named her "Sally" (she even has a cute little skirt) and we read the story - twice.

Now, many people find their elf in mischievous situations, but we adopted Sally to curb mischievous behavior so Sally is going to be a really good elf this year. In fact, she reminded B not to touch her because of the mischievous gleam in B's eye when she was told she was forbidden to. Kids.

Here are a few pictures of Sally on the first morning; B looked for a little bit, calling her name, and finally saw her up on the mantle by the socks. Looks like Sally isn't playing hard to get the first week.

OH what's that, a note? If you can't read it, it says:

Breanna, 

Thank you for the perfect name,

I can't wait to play our special game!

Find me each morning when you wake up,

but please remember not to touch!

Sally the Elf xoxo

(Santa must have had the elves take classes, that is some pro poetry writing there!)

B was so excited she had found Sally free of her box and dressed in the skirt...she wouldn't stop talking about it all morning! Last night she whispered to Sally what she wanted for Christmas, something she forgot to tell Santa, so we will see what's under the tree on Christmas morning!

I wonder what Sally was up to last night...

De-Monster Spray

I am on a roll this weekend. B & E are getting along famously so I have this extra time to snap a picture or two and post. Yay! 

B has had a hard time going to bed lately, with excuses anywhere from monsters in her closet to her eyes won't stay closed.

Again inspired by Pinterest, I decided to create my own version of Monster Spray {dubbed "De-Monster Spray}.

Last year I held a Norwex "party" and bought the Odour Eliminator. Honestly, I haven't used it yet. I love many of their products but this is one I didn't get around to using because I never thought of scooping up a spray bottle when at the store. However, creating a "De-Monster Spray" was the PERFECT opportunity for me to start using it! 

I used 7 parts water per 1 part Norwex Odour Eliminator and B helped {I told her the Odour Eliminator was a special product that monsters didn't like...which is true if you compare monsters to "odour" - win!}. She knows that it isn't just water, so it's more believable. I can now chase away all of the "monsters" in the garbage can and any other places they might decide to pop up. :) 

Fabulous!

-KK

Christmas Treats - Pretzel Hugs

I am no good at baking. I can cook, but I can't bake. I don't understand it. So, when I stumbled across Erin at The Sunny Side Up blog and saw her Pretzel Hugs, I knew I had found my new Christmas treat tradition. B & E were pretty excited to help! Here's how we did it:

Simple ingredients {just how I like it}: Pretzel Butter Snaps, Hershey's Hugs, and Christmas colored M&Ms. {I went with the smaller quantities for now, first of all because I wasn't sure how they would turn out, and secondly, everyone and their mom must have decided to make these this weekend because the store was nearly out of everything...}

The girls began by arranging the {un-broken} pretzel snaps on a baking pan. In the meantime, I preheated the oven to 200 degrees.

E decided to help by eating the broken pretzels...

 B diligently unwrapped the Hersey's Hugs and placed then on each pretzel snap.

E smiled {she's so stinkin cute!}...

...then decided she would be in charge of the M&Ms. What a great helper!

B proudly showed off all her hard work! She is so grown up sometimes I can't believe it!

I put the treats in the oven and the girls were in charge of watching until the Hugs melted {approximately 7 minutes}.

Add M&Ms to the top, let cool in the fridge, then TA-DA! An easy-to-make, no-bake, delicious Christmas treat!

YUM!

-KK

Lipgloss for Divas

It's been a while since I've posted last, and I apologize to my {one} follower. Life has been pretty busy, and to be honest, I'm too busy enjoying it to sit down and take time to blog about it. However, this morning I find myself with a few extra minutes and with some inspiration from Pinterest, the girls and I had some fun activities.

It hasn't been cold for very long, but it's been tough on B because she likes to lick her lips a lot, especially when she's concentrating {it's hereditary, I swear...my mom does it and I do it too}. Needless to say, her lips get pretty chapped. I found this homemade lipgloss idea and thought it would be fun to make and encourage her to use it more! Here's how we did it:

1 cup Petroleum Jelly {Vaseline}, 1 package Kool-Aid flavor of choice, and I found those cute containers in the travel section at WalMart. Awesome.

Melt the Petroleum Jelly at 30 second intervals until liquid. The picture above {is poor quality, I know...the natural lighting in our kitchen blows and I hate using flashes because it washes everything out, sorry!} shows where I stopped...KEEP GOING! This is one mistake that I made because I was so excited to do this project that I didn't read the directions fully. Melt the Petroleum Jelly until it is completely liquid, this takes about 7-8 minutes according to the original post!

Since the bowl was so hot, B's only job was to pour the Kool-Aid {pink lemonade flavor} into the bowl. I stirred and stirred and stirred.

I poured the lipgloss into the containers and let solidify again {about 2 hours}. I added a little sticker just for fun and BAM! Because I didn't wait until the petroleum jelly was liquid, the Kool-Aid did not dissolve completely so you can feel the little crystals when you put it on. Also, the pink lemonade taste is a little strong, but B loves it!

{Another idea for next time is to add eyeshadow for a little tint to the lipgloss.}

B now has a girly, homemade lipgloss she can bring to school and it's big enough to be noticed when doing laundry {can't tell you how many times I've washed chapstick left in her jean pockets}. 

Win-win-win.

-KK

Touching Base...

Wow, it has been a crazy few weeks!

In my last post, I left you with the doll house painting disaster. As of today, it remains the same. Unfortunately I haven't even purchased paint for the exterior or interior! I need to get on that STAT because apparently we're supposed to see "flurries" here this week in "MinneSNOWta".

My personal life has been a big blur over the last two weeks. I left my job as an Associate Accountant at a commercial real estate company after 4 years {not in the same position, I moved around and was working my way up the corporate ladder}. It's a great company and the only reason I had to leave is location - it was an hour or more one way and that time is too precious to be spent in traffic and not with my family. The decision was very difficult to make, and it happened so quickly I don't know where those last two weeks went!

As much as I wish I could have left and started my stay-at-home mommy career, I did accept a position at a rebate processing company as an Accounting Associate that is much closer to home. Now I only drive 15 minutes one way {this morning I drove passed the exit by two miles before I noticed...not used to the shorter distance yet!} so I am able to see my daughter off to preschool in the morning and see my husband before work. I'm also going to be home earlier and much less stressed because I won't be sitting in traffic.

With all of that going on, I haven't had the opportunity to work on the doll house project or any others that I would like to start up. Actually, we did receive our wedding pictures back and I printed 2011 pictures up through September so I organized those for scrapbooking. OH! I did complete my 2010 album as well {yay!} which is a HUGE accomplishment in my book.

Anyway, I will do my best to upkeep this blog over the next few weeks as I transition into my new role. Thanks for checking in!

{Kimberly}

Dollhouse Renovation: Phase 1

I have just begun my first major DIY project.

As a young lass, I adored Barbies. I mean, really. My sister and I would even get caught by our parents playing with them instead of sleeping because we were so excited over the storyline we had created. At my Nanny and Grandpa's house, I had a beautiful handcrafted dollhouse - a gift from one of their good friends. My sister and I played with it every single day. Over the years, it has been passed out between three sisters and last year my youngest sister decided she had outgrown the famous doll. Into storage it went.

It so happens that my 4-year old, B, has recently taken an interest in Barbie dolls. Princesses, particularly. It was also recently that she mentioned she was going to ask Santa for a dollhouse.

Light bulb.

Inspired by photos I came across here and there, I decided to give the dollhouse a renovation. Myself.

Here's what it looked like after seeing it for the first time in years:

Cute, right? Look closer.

Oh. Em. Gee. I forgot how much we had written on it as kids! That house sure took a beating.

Ok, so I had my work cut out for me. To start, I removed the handles on either side of the house.

I'm sure I could find drawer handles at a hardware store to replace these...

Next, I covered the windows so I wouldn't have to replace them (one is already missing, need to decide what to do about that).

 

After cleaning and sanding, it was finally time to grab the spray paint! I chose spray paint because of multiple projects I had found online and decided it would be the most efficient way to cover every nook and cranny with paint, especially in the attic which gets pretty tight.

I sprayed. I sprayed and I sprayed and I sprayed. I ended up with this:

Where oh where did I go wrong?? I have no idea what happened, but the spray paint just clouded inside the room then floated out, barely sticking to the walls. I moved the can on closer thinking that would help, but instead it dribbled down the walls or left puddles on the floors. Yes, I used the sweeping motion. 

I ran out of paint and patience so moved on to the outside of the house. Another problem of a different kind...the outside is now bubble gum pink instead of watermelon, and after two - yes {2} - cans, the spray paint still didn't cover the markings on the house!

Let me tell you, I am feeling like the biggest failure right now! How difficult can it be to spray paint? What a mistake. A waste of time!

There is one bright spot in all of this: the roof. I purchased "Make It Stone" spray paint to add texture to the roof. It looks amazing!

I already started sanding the house again, but this time I'm going all elbows in.

Phase II will be a lot more work and a lot different than I originally anticipated. What's the next step in my Plan? Buy actual paint for the exterior, determine colors for interior, and chose scrapbook paper to use as wallpaper. Let's hope I can get that done this week! Then I will be back to sanding and painting. Hopefully "Santa" can finish this by Christmas!

Beef Stroganoff

YUM-O.

There's nothing that I love better than a home-cooked meal. If it's my own, even better. And if it's easy and quick to make, HALLELUJAH! I came across this recipe and wanted to try it out since my husband and daughter are huge fans of the easy hamburger meals with the oh-so-happy oven mitt. I, on the other hand, am not very fond of how processed the sauce tastes, so what did I say upon finding a recipe with sauce made from scratch?

Jackpot.

Hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

 Ingredients:
-1lb extra lean beef
-1/2 cup chopped onion
-10oz egg noodles
-10 3/4 oz can reduced fat mushroom soup (aka 1 can)
-1 cup nonfat sour cream
-Worchestershire sauce

Brown beef and onions in a heated skillet. Drain.
 

Cook egg noodles in boiling water for approximately 7 minutes (al dente). Drain.

Combine noodles, beef/onions, soup, sour cream, and a few shakes of Worchestershire sauce in pot. Heat until warm.

Salt and pepper to taste, and enjoy!