Day Seven








Shopping Fun

I love to spend money. I know, I know. Every possible emotional and psychological syndrome that I could possible have is on your checklist of "WTH is wrong with her" now. I don't care because I'm not going to try and figure it out or fix it. Because I love to shop. Well the SAHM thing, kinda threw a kink in my game. No worries. Over the last 5 years I've worked through the combo of need and guilt. I shop for groceries! Need without the guilt. Plus, we can stretch a trip to Whole Foods or Costco into a half day event. Play, samples, shop, visit with the old people who love to swoon over my kids, borrow(read: pretend to buy) new toys, eat, and then naps on the way home. Really, you can't beat it. Don't laugh.

Whole Foods even has an eating area, playground AND a meals worth of samples!

Oh AND entertainment!! This day PBS showed up and had games, balloons, and Cat in the Hat!
I don't even think Martin hears a drummer. His beat is more along the lines of a triangle or tambourine. He insists on getting a "sad face" every time we got to Costco which is every week . I know. Happy face would be too... normal. Martin does not do normal. Normal is not cool.

Things I'm Loving Right Now

Vintage Baby Quilts

It makes me so happy to see my baby sprawled out on the blankets my mom saved from my childhood. It's almost inspiring enough to get me started making a few. At least three.

Soule Mamma's New book - Thanks Emily! (Oh and while you're visiting Emily, check out the adorable apron she made Allie)

Just flipping through this book makes me want to forgo sleep for days just to fit in a new project.

Creativity for Kids

I love doing projects that are plucked from our own imaginations and use only upcycled materials, buuuuuut it's not happening lately. I'm really trying to sneak in projects and puzzles into our day which by the way is very hard. So one day I pulled this Christmas gift from my mother in law, out of the closet during Benjamin's nap. The kids LOVED it!! All the supplies was right there, easy to do, cute puppets in less than an hour that the kids played with FOR hours! Then lo and behold, Allie unwraps a birthday present and now we have another one waiting for us when we can grab a few uninterrupted minutes! Create your own BOOK!!! How fun is that going to be?

Spinach Salad

When I was so lucky as to have friends bring me dinner after I had Benjamin, I was introduced to a new salad. It's so simple and easy to make. THANKS Star!!!

Salad:

Spinach

Toasted Almonds

Mandarin Oranges

Dressing:

1T Soy sauce

3T Seasoned Rice Wine Vinegar

1/2 cup of Canola Oil

1-2t. of Sesame Oil

How did you do this week?

I know I've been missing, but I'm in a creating mood. Not only is my body sick and exhausted from all the million things it's doing to give baby a good start, but all the time I'm not sick or sleeping, I'm creating. I love it. So I'll get back here in a bit and share the head start I've gotten on next month's challenge.

Back to this this month's challenge... I think I did ok this week. My mom turned 35 ::wink,wink:: this past week and I found a beautiful jewelry set for her NOT in the mall! In Rice village, a wonderful store, Ten Thousand Villages , has beautifully handcrafted gifts from villages around the world. Really beautiful gifts at a reasonable price and all fair trade. You can't beat that. Right next door in the village, there is a shop called The Village Firefly, which specializes in art, and gifts from local Texas artists. I loved it!! I don't think I've had such good time shopping in awhile. The Village Firefly had these wonderfully unique ornaments that I'm hoping my earth loving friends will love just as much. Happy shopping.

Not much else this week. We hit the market again and then Belden's. I can honestly say that I'll keep the market after this month, but I might be headed back to either HEB or Whole Foods. Here are a few pictures from the market and of the yummy bakery across the street.

Yeah, this one's blurry, but A was headed out the door and M was gonna grab a box of cookies to go!!

Challenge: ok spill it!

So ladies and gents, how did the challenge go last week? It's Monday, so spill it. Post a comment or give us a link to your blog and tell us how you did this week and what you found!!

We did ok here. I caved and went to JoAnn's after only finding upholstery fabric stores. I really needed to get started on some of my holiday projects. Plus I talked to one of the ladies and she said that a few of their stores have shut down, so I'm glad I could give them some business. I also made it to a yarn store for a few projects. Nancy's knits was great. A and M were horrible and she was so nice to ignore their squeals and my mommy monster voice as I asked a gajillion beginner questions!!

Grocery shopping when MUCH better this week. Last Sunday, we hit Canino's off, 610 and Airline and it was great!! Lots of fresh fruit and veggies. I even found flour, spices and eggs. Then I picked up my odds and ends at Beldens. This weekend, I hit the Urban Harvest market with a friend. They have all local produce and lots of yummy things like cheese and chocolate, but I don't think that I could "make groceries" as some of us southerners say, from this market. Overall, I'd say I'm really happy with the Canino's and Belden's combo and I'll stick with it.

If you guessed our surprise from my last post you might get why I'd rather throw my family under the train that is eating out, rather than cook. I feel like my stomach is on a constant food strike. Really it's ridiculous and my hubby thinks it's calculated, but my nausea attacks in full force starting around 3:30pm and lasts all night! Can't cook, can't bathe the kids, can't finish chores so basically I'm worthless and throw in a little grouchy, emotional and crazy lady then you can call her Crisa!! All that to say, we ate out a lot.

Mexican - great breakfast (Don Carlos),
Pizza - good and cheap (Firehouse Pizza),
Coffee - My new favorite coffee house and hubby liked it too!! (Fioza),
Burgers- good burgers and Greek food (Roadsters),
Sandwiches - I think this one is too new for reviews, but it's on the corner of Bissonet and Hillcroft (Hoagies) **Great Vietnamese sandwiches!!**

So yeah, that is a lot of eating out. Buuuuut we did eat lots of yummy fruits and veggies in between. Two full drawers

Oh and I did manage to cook ONE meal this past week. Fried rice with LOTS of veggies.

This month's challenge

Ok I know it's late, again but all the election stuff and traveling pushed this post back. This month's challenge is to buy ALL of our stuff from small businesses. Everything from food to toiletries to clothes. There's been a little bit of a debate as to what qualifies a business as small and I think after I explain the motivation behind this challenge it might be clearer than if I tried to make concrete guidelines.

So, in the past few months I've been dragging people into conversations sitting and talking with friends and family about the issues that were important to me in the recent election. The economy dominated most of our conversation and it was almost certain that the issue of saving small businesses was important. After all the hair pulling and slapping political banter, I felt like most people thought I was not on the side of small businesses and I was frustrated because I felt like we hit a wall and there was no going over it. After a few months of walking away with the same frustrations, I decided to put my money where my mouth is. I think that the state of our economy sucks right now and I'll spare you guys my reasoning. It upsets me to think that some businesses are going to have to close their doors and it frustrates me to think that there isn't anything I can do to help. But wait.... when I felt this way about the lack of responsibility for the quality of toys coming into the States, I DID something. And even though, no one thought it would make a difference on a large scale, I stuck with it and spread the word. Things changed. Maybe I, along with the millions of moms across our nation, can pull together again and make a difference?? Putting my money where my mouth is and that's into small business.

So COME ON MOMS!!!! Join me in my challenge. I'll post the places I visit during the week and for all of my family and friends who live in Houston, join me and share your little hole in the walls and mom and pop shops. Lets let give our economy a little boost. So if you accept my challenge, add me to your list of blogs that you follow and your link will show up on the right under "I accepted the challenge" and then we can keep up with you.

So now to catch up.

Groceries - On the way home from the Valley we stopped at a roadside stand and bought some fruit, and veggies. I even bought a jar of jalapeno jelly. Yum. I also tried a local Sellers Bros for the rest of our groceries. To be honest, it was really hard and I was telling my self the whole time, "Local is better than organic." Eek. I don't think I'm going back. My plan for next week is to hit the Canino's farmer's market like I was planning on and then going to Belden's for the odds and ends. Belden's is a little pricey so I'm hoping to just get most of my stuff at the market. Great article if you have time.

Eating out - Ok I slipped up once on a rainy day and went to Chickfila, but I'm back on track. Let me just say before I go on that Hubby HATES this challenge, because of this part. He wants to eat at the same restaurants he always does and he pitched a royal fit this week. blah. Anyways, we ate Chinese to celebrate election day at Happy Lamp. Don Carlos with my family for breakfast. They have GREAT pancakes. New York Pizza for our weekend dinner out.

That's really it for us this week. I think next week I'll hit the fabric store and I'm going to need some odds and ends that might be hard to find. Fun!! Really I'm loving learning about the history of business in my city. Don't forget to let me know of your small business finds!!

Yay HUMMUS

Can we cheer for hummus? I found this simple recipe for hummus by Jonah on her blog The Toby Show. Now I've never made hummus before, so I can't tell you if this recipe is easier than others, but it was super easy for me. It's creamy, fresh and CHEAP!

Homemade

The challenge is going pretty good this week. I actually have crafts planned and I'm looking forward to them. Yay! I've also decided what my challenge will be for next month. Well, I wanted to do it this month, but I needed to do some leg work to be successful. I'm going to buy everything from small businesses. I feel that with all the craziness going on in wall street, the one thing I can do to help out is to give our money and business to the people who really need it right now. So what does that mean? NO Target, NO HEB, NO large fast food chains or restaurants. Eeek!! Here's what I've got so far...

Medical stuff - I found an old fashioned pharmacy near buy that I'll check out very soon. I also have to see if they accept our insurance.

Clothes - Will all be from the second hand store. We do have lots of boutiques around here but we don't have the money.

Gifts and toys - I'm sure we'll have at least one birthday and I'm going to try to make most of our gifts, but there is a local toy store that we can support.

Crafting supplies - I'm on the lookout for a small business material and craft store. If all else fails, I'll order my supplies online from a small business.

Toiletries - I'm at a loss here. I can make most of my cleaners and I'm hoping this pharmacy will have toothpaste and stuff, but what about toilet paper??? Who's going to replace Target????

Food - This has been a toughie. We can hit the farmer's market for fruits, veggies, eggs, cheese and even flour and spices. We won't do organic, because what they have is just too limited, so we're doing local instead. Milk is still a big concern. Also any prepackaged stuff is almost non- existent. The market does have a few homemade goods, but stuff like cereal, crackers, chips, pasta, and jam aren't abundant. So, I've been searching for recipes that are simple and can replace all the box stuff we buy. This week I'm trying out a few of my recipes and I have to say that I'm pretty pleased with my honey graham crackers. We might have just booted Honeymaid out the door.

HurriCAKE

A little comfort food? I had to make room for more beenie weenies and tuna, so I took out a cake mix from the back of my pantry and made this cake.

Take a Hike IKE!!

Well this guy just might live up to his hype. The mayor just announced that we will have an enforced curfew starting at 6:30p.m. I feel like I HAVE to go somewhere now. I mean I have a whole hour and 30 min!!

No really, I'm a little nervous and writing helps. Apparently cooking does too, because I'm baking a banana cake and wanted to start cooking dinner for the kids at 4:30.

Pirate Princess Party

Yay our Pirate Princess party was a hit! A had the best time and is still asking if we can do it again. Here are a few pics of the the party.

Pirate Princess Invitations - Tiffany did an awesome job again!! More on them here. Birthday Banner - This was just construction paper and left over foam skulls.

Pirate Princess Pinata- We have a local pinata place that custom makes them for TONS cheaper than the tiny ones at party city.
Pirate Princess Decorations on the Table - Michael's and the dollar stores had their Halloween stuff out already.

Treasure chest - I had all the kid's hats (Michael's), beads & rings(local party warehouse) and eye patches (I made these with felt and elastic) in here. Balloons - I ordered these from www.celebrateexpress.com along with the plates. I just filled in the rest with hot pink and black.

Cake - It didn't turn out how I expected, but the kids loved it and I loved that it was done! Party Favors - I made some booty bags and threw in a few chocolate coins. More on these here. Hot dog Pirate ships - I uploaded the instructions on how to make there here.

Super A - My mom make A a cape for her birthday!!
Pirate wench - My aunt dressed up like a pirate and help tatto the kids! They loved it!
Pin the patch on the Pirate - We were all set to play, but it was hot and I couldn't get the kids all in one area so we passed on it. Buuuut my mom and dad did a great job making the poster and we'll save it for halloween!

Fun times... ARRRRR

Where's my booty???

I'm finally done with the booty bags for A's party. My mom, thank you mom, was a huge help and with a little tweaking and lots of hair pulling I think we have a pretty decent party favor.

Since I couldn't find instructions on how to make these I thought I'd save some other poor woman who is in over her head the trouble and make my very first instructable.



http://www.instructables.com/id/Cloth_bags/

We're gearing up

I love, LOVE parties and we're getting ready for baby girl's third party. Here's the invitation (with a few changes for privacy) that I endangered my children to get reprinted. A friend mine, Tiffany, designed them and she does AWESOME work!! Check her out.



And just because he's so cute and Tiffany does such a great job, here was M's for his first birthday. Again information is changed for privacy. So, I know you've already started to call me but momma's not home.