Ten of My {Current} Favorite Pins

 
So I know I’m technically three days late for a Top Ten Tuesday post and even one day late for a Favorite Things entry but in the spirit of the new year I’m going to declare myself early for both of these! Yay me! (And of course I wrote this on Friday and am only now posting it on a Monday…boo!   But still early!)

{I’m amazed I’m even attempting a blog post, but I think I’m all hyped up on the unforeseen bliss of having a mostly clean and partly organized house. And even with all that its 2:16 p.m. on a Friday and I’m sitting in my basement, STILL in my PJs (if you want a visual, look at our blog header—yep, same ones) with a bright green bandana wrapped around my too-long hair. But enough about me, okay, actually I’m not done just yet. I’ve been a bit busy with school and home and life and teenager’s DRIVING and teenagers (yes, plural) with girlfriends. Sigh.}

Back to my favorite pins I’ve actually tried, made, used…
1. “Fair is where you get cotton candy.” I’ve pinned oodles of sayings, both humorous and inspirational, but this is the one that has seen the most mileage in my household. My kids finish my sentence, and they hate it. Bonus!

2. Nutella Crescent Rolls. Sweet mercy, these are spectacular! (And they’re real!) I used my old standby crescent roll dough recipe and skipped the nuts. I also made mine in the traditional crescent shape, probably won’t do that again. They were ten kinds of delicious but forty kinds of messy. I’ll roll ‘em up and put them in a muffin tin next time.

 
3. DIY Waterless Snow Globes. I am in the firm grip of a serious addiction to Mason jars at the moment. So these were the perfect thing to showcase my growing collection. So cute and so stinkin’ easy! I used them as my Christmas Eve breakfast centerpiece (we have a HUGE family—hubby is one of 8) and we’re crazy enough to invite them all over every year. Truly one of my favorite parts of the holiday, hands down.

4. “Go Away I’m Reading” Coffee Mug.” This gets a “most favorite pin” award because the BFF saw it, and designed a personalized mug for me with this on it!! (Little does she know—well she will soon, and yes, I sent her present WAY late—that I also bought her Christmas gift that was Pinterest inspired..heehee!)

5. Christmas Tree Ribbon Shirt. I took the inspiration of this pin and made my niece one for Christmas! Only, Jilly and I decided K would much rather have a black, white, and pink zebra stripe and polka dot one, so that’s what we did. Not too shabby for my first attempt. The fact my sweet niece wore it (IN PUBLIC) for the church Christmas social…well, I was extremely proud of myself.

6. Cleaning Baking Pans. This worked surprisingly well. Not absolutely fantastic. It could only get that kind of rating if I didn’t have to scrub. And I did.

7. Chocolate Oreo Cream Cake. Yup, just look at the picture. It’s twice as rich as it looks. So I served it with a large scoop of homemade vanilla ice cream, just to cut the sweetness.


8. Nutella Hot Chocolate. This has been made a couple of times. I make it full strength for my chocoholic Jill and then add a little more milk to mine.

9. Martha Stewart’s Tub Scrub. Possibly the most used pin. I use about 95% homemade cleaners (can’t give up the Murphy’s oil soap for my hardwoods, the plain vinegar was NOT doing it). So this has been a very welcome addition to my arsenal.

10. Sperry Top Sider Angelfish. Okay, so this is really stretching it since I did pin these myself. The older I get, the more I find I need to invest in being well shod. (Yes, I just compared myself to a horse.) And these little puppies have totally done the trick. I am in love. So thankful I have an enabling best friend who encourages me to spend too much money on shoes.
 

 
And honestly I just “completed” a new pin this morning (I am one seriously dedicated addict, people, serious!) that is just pure genius.  But I thought I had inflicted enough pain on you for the morning.
Wishing all the best to you and yours in 2012, and Happy Pinning!

Check out more Top Ten Tuesday posts over at Oh Amanda!

Pam
(aka Pam525 on Pinterest)

2011 75 Book Challenge

 

Warning.  This post contains blatant braggadocios behavior.

You’ve been warned.

I entered Library Thing’s challenge earlier this year.  It was a little difficult to go back and dredge up all of the books I had already read.  Luckily, I catalog books once I’ve read them.  I may have missed a book or two, but I don’t think I have.

I have read 76 books so far this year!

I usually don’t blatantly brag like this, but I’m proud of this.

Now.  I counted audiobooks.  If you are a purist/puritan/eyeball-only-reader, that number would drop significantly. 

You can find the list of everything I read this year here.

Some of my favorites of the year are as follows.

The Monsters: The curse of Mary Shelley and Frankenstein by Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler.  This is a book about Mary and Percy Shelley and the contest that started it all, as well as Mary’s sister that had an ongoing, lifelong affair with Percy, and the themes from Frankenstein mirroring Shelley’s life.  It was very interesting.  I read it, then Frankenstein.  I wish I had done it the other way around.  This book summarized Frankenstein, so it was a bit of a let down reading it, knowing what was coming next.

The Historian, by Elizabeth Kostova.  This is a very intriguing novel about Dracula still existing today, and the hunt to find him and destroy him.  It delves into the history of Vlad the Impaler.  Dracula has over the years left clues to only the best researchers in the literary field.  I felt very smart reading this.  I have discovered that I like dark fiction.  Not overly creepy, or gruesome, but dark-ish.  This fits the bill.  And it’s delightfully long.  I love a good, thick book that’s not over too quickly.

We are all weird, by Seth Godin. This short little book is all about how weird is taking over.  Most people have weird in them somewhere, and are less and less ashamed of weirdness.  I identified with this book.  I’m weird.  It’s ok.  I like weird. 

Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn.  This book is very quirky, witty, and all clever.  (I realize that sentence isn’t proper, I’m making a point, but I did have to point that out.  Sad.  I know.) An island idolizes the man that coined “The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.” They have this tiled in the square with his statue.  As tiles start falling, letters get outlawed in oral and written form.  The book is written in letters.  Letters about letters.  It’s like the inception of the alphabet.  I loved it!

I Remember Nothing by Nora Ephron. I love her.  She’s funny and real.  I too, remember nothing, except that I loved this book.

The Postmistress by Sarah Blake. This WWII novel made me sob.  Literally.  I’m telling you.  If you read this and get to a train, get tissues ready.  Chest heaving, snot running snubs are coming.  I’m assuming that you aren’t a robot and have human emotions, of course.  But it’s so good.  So good.

Dune by Frank Herbert. I’m a geek.  That’s part of my weird.  I have read the Harry Potter books twice, am getting through The Lord of The Rings, I love Star Trek (Next Gen) and Star Wars (3-6), and Eragon.  I love fantasy as well as sci-fi.  I don’t know how I haven’t read this before now.  I actually listened to this during The Great Paint (my in-laws’ entire house, ceilings and 14 rooms.)  And there are many, many more sequels to this waiting on me.  Yay! 

The Distant Hours by Kate Morton. This book has made me a Kate Morton fan.  I can’t wait to read more of her books.  A book crossing generations, the daughter trying to learn about her mother, but learning much much more in the process.  It’s set primarily in a manor house, so what’s not to love?

A Perfect Mess by Eric Abrahamson and David H. Freedman. I’m messy.  A little mess is ok.  This book says so.  It’s easier and less time consuming to have important things near to hand, and out (messy) than to spend time putting away and finding (hyper organized.)  Hey.  Don’t look at me.  It’s science.  I didn’t write it, but I TOTALLY agree! Now, they do say that in moderation, messes are more efficient.  I’m not giving you permission to be on Hoarders. 

The Millennials by Thom and Jess Rainer. The generation born between 1980 and 2000 is the biggest generation America has seen.  This book studied and interviewed many Millennials to find out more about this generation.  This is a very interesting and eye-opening book regarding the American church and the biggest generation we’ve seen.  Hopeful, challenging, affirming to me personally, this was a great read.

 A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. Probably my most challenging book.  It was LONG, and packed with so much info, that I had to check it out from the library twice on my kindle to finish it.  It is a secular (evolution) history.  But.  There was so much informative stuff.  And it wasn’t all about evolution.  It covers the Universe, Atoms, microbes, the Hadron Collider.  It also tracks the history of science and who discovered what when, and what led to that discovery, what that discovery led to, on and on and on.  It was long and technical, but not too much so, and it kept my interest.  Hence the second check out.  I had to finish it.  It really felt like an accomplishment when I did.  It also was my 75th book and ended my challenge, and this list.

I can honestly recommend all of these books. 

If you’ve read any of these (or any on my list), leave me a comment, please.  I just love to talk books!

Pinspiring

That’s a little misleading.  I wasn’t necessarily inspired by a pin.  I did keep up with the photo searches I did for inspiration with Pinterest. 

Anywho.  Here’s what I wanted.  Every year Davy gets a bear ornament, Liv gets a mouse ornament, and Gabe gets a reindeer.  Sometimes, it’s difficult and expensive to find good ornaments.  I decided to make them this year. 

So the search began.  Thank you very much Google Images.

Ok.  So that’s what I’m copying.  Here’s what I made.

I’m so proud.  They’re so cute!  Dave LAUGHED at me for being so excited about my work.  Laughed! 

It was fun making them, but even more fun carrying on a tradition that we’ve had all of their lives. 

Oh.  And you better believe these are going on Pinterest. 

(Is it terribly sad that you blog only to have somewhere to pin your work from?) 

Earrings 11

I have been wanting to make these earrings for YEARS.  I remember exactly when my obsession started.  It was with the following scene in Oceans’ 11.

I couldn’t pay attention to the story, I was so engrossed in those earrings.  It was love at first sight.

So I looked online.  Surely you can find something similar, I naively thought.  You can’t.  Even now, years later.  Go ahead, try.  I dare you.

So I began looking for pieces to put together.

Here’s what I started with.

I realize that my studs are a bit pidly compared to the originals, but I had to work with what I could find.  And I lengthened them, too.  Creative License and all that. 

I’m really pleased with them. 

Oh.  Please forgive my pasty paleness.  I’ve been hacking up lungs for the past week. 

You got anything you’re working on?

Doodlers Unite!

I watched this video today, with one doodler in mind.
Doodling has a bad rap.  It shouldn't.

Pam is a  doodler.  She doodles on the phone, while talking and hashing out problems/solutions, coming up with ideas for kids ministry.

Now.  Watch this.  See how it fits.

We should all be doodling.  Heaven knows we have enough to process.

Go.  Doodle and prosper.
 Do you doodle?

Makin' plans, dreamin' dreams

 

What I hope my basement looks like some day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I put together this polyvore, hoping to get an idea of what my basement could look like one day. 
I'm making all of these plans.  I hope to move my office down there eventually. 

I'll explain my maddness.
The floor joists above are exposed, and they're that lovely honey color, so that's represented at the top. 
I have several gallons of reject paint from lowes ($5 baby!!!) that are different shades of blue and green.  I'm planning on painting each wall a different color.  I may even mix them, a la House Invaders. 

Side note.  That is a BBC show, where a designer comes over, uses stuff you have, mixes the paint you already own, and slaps it on anything not moving, to create a new look.  Great stuff, that.

Where was I?  
Oh.  Imagine that shelf full of fabric, and inspiration all over the walls.
I want an L shaped work space, so I don't have to roll very far.  Cause rolling requires effort, right?
We have concrete floors, that have never been sealed, I'm pretty sure.  I want to do a semi-transparent stain on them and seal those babies to a high sheen. 

High Sheen!  Haha!!!  Get it?  Winning!
Oh, I kill me.

Now, this is just planning phase.  It will take mucho elbow grease and some dough to get all of the supplies.  So this may not happen for a few months.  But a girl can dream, can't she?

Supplies!!!  Speaking of supplies, although this one isn't related at all to this project, I had a dream come true today! 

Remember how I can't post pics until I get my laptop back?  Well, there's almost always a way around.  I tweeted one from my phone, so I can retrieve it for you kind folks.

Back to the dreamy dream.

I brought this baby home to mama!  I've been wanting a good saw since I was a teenager, watching This Old House and The Yankee Workshop on PBS on lazy Saturdays. 

We had a $50 giftcard to Lowes, and I had a 10% off coupon (that was expired, but they honored it!!!)  Yes, it's the least expensive one, but I'm a beginner.  So it works out.  : )

I'm beyond thrilled. 
I'll be setting her up in a different part of the basement.  She looks female, doesn't she?  She's certainly pretty. 
She needs a name.  Maybe Lizzy?  Too gruesome? 

Help a girl out.  Got any good suggestions to name my new favorite play thing?

~Jen