Day 6 of Summer Break

Summer Blog Series

You may have noticed a little pattern starting to form around here - it's my quest to document our summer adventures misadventures adventures. I've had this blog sitting here for years with very little activity, not unlike our summers... My 14 yr old starts high school this fall, and in a couple of years he will be driving, so it dawned on me that I really only have 2 or 3 summers to force spend time with all three of my boys. This summer I've decided to step up my mom game by figuring out some activities that will get us out of the our beautifully air conditioned home (wait, what??) and out making memories and getting some fresh air. The blogging thing is because kids, especially males, have a tendency to not remember doing anything.

Ever heard this before?

Basically anyone to my kids: "How was your summer?"

My kids: "ok"

Anyone: "Did you do anything fun?"

Kids: "not really"

They always seem to forget about the carnivals, the trips to the beach and boardwalk, treks to the community pool, and anything else sprinkled throughout our summer break. So this blog series is basically my written proof that we actually did do something this summer.

I will admit that it also holds me a little bit more accountable, and prevents me from realizing it's mid-July and we haven't really done anything besides binge Netflix. Don't expect a new blog adventure everyday (I'm talking to you, mom - hi!), there's still laundry to do and down time to be had - we just aren't one of those go go go families. I can't promise that our adventures will always be successful, but we'll do our best to make them interesting.

So without further ado, sit back, sip on your iced coffee (aka yesterday's coffee in my house), and enjoy!

Day 6 of Summer Break: Strawberry Picking

"Pick your own" season is happening right now in Eastern Pennsylvania, it's one of those blink and you missed it kind of things, so I was pschyched when a high school classmate of mine posted that her family's farm was starting their season this week.


In perfect Kristin timing, the only day that we had free this week, was of course a day with temps in the 90s. Pale Irish girls and extreme heat do not go well together. Remember, indoor cat.

Nevertheless, she persisted...

• Arrange a few days prior to meet mom and sister at farm at 10 am sharp
• Forget to set alarm, but manage to wake up with plenty of time to shower and get boys ready
• Sit at kitchen island drinking old iced coffee while wasting time on various social media apps, look at clock and assure self that we have "plenty of time"
• 12 yr old wakes and immediately asks what he needs to do to get ready
• Pat self on back for raising 12 yr old to be proactive 
• Have stinky 12 yr old shower
• Poor self another old iced coffee 
• Check time again and realize 8 yr old and 14 yr old are still sound asleep and now we have 30 minutes to get out the door
• Sip coffee...
• Shit! Now we only have 20 minutes to get out the door and I still need to shower!!!!
• Run up stairs
• Try to wake 14 yr old. He proclaims that he's just going to sleep today, and to leave him home
• Abandon sleepy teen
• Move on to sleeping 8 yr old
• Sweetly tell him it's time to get up
• Receive moans of protest from 8 yr old 
• Text mother and sister and say it's looking more like 10:30 for our meet up
• Somehow manage to get stinky 8 yr old out of bed and into the bath
• Get myself in the shower. Try to remember last time hair was washed. Give up and just decide to wash it.
• "Remind" 8 yr old to brush teeth about 4 times
• Throw wet hair in ponytail, bathing suits in bag, and sunblock on 2/3 of my kids
• Spend way too much time trying to get dog in crate - she's smart enough to realize that when we brush our teeth AND put shoes on, that we are most definitely leaving the house, and she wants in on it
• Finally trick her by asking if she wants to go out (I mean, she's a dog, so it worked)
• Sister calls and says there's road work on route to farm - CRAP!
• Manage to figure out alternate route and make great time
• Pats self on back
• 10:43 - arrive at farm to find sister, mother and two nieces waiting for us (oops!)
• Grab a couple of berry baskets and hop on wagon to the berry patch
• 4 yr old niece is VERY excited 
• Animated is word used to best describe her. She spotted me at her preschool graduation a few days prior and exclaimed "hi Aunt Kristin!!!!" in the middle of their processional
• Farmer driving tractor asks her name and tells her that she's in charge - as if she needed him to tell her that!
• Woman riding with us to berry patch says that she has a granddaughter with the same name (*keep in mind that this is not a typical name, but also not all that unusual of a name) 
• Everyone takes seat on wagon and 4 yr old gives the farmer the ok to go
• Mention that it's about 5 degrees warmer here, than it is in Nazareth (the opposite is typically true)
• Woman sitting across from me says that her grandchildren also live in Nazareth
• She jokingly asks if we have any kids with her grandson's name
• Now this name is one that you don't hear everyday 
• That is, unless you live in my house and have a 14 yr old that plays xbox live with a boyscout that happens to go by the same name
• And that boyscout happens to have an 8 yr old sister that shares a name with my niece
• Talk about a small world - the boyscout that accompanied us to Ringing Rocks last week happens to be the grandson of the woman sitting across from me on the wagon ride to pick berries today
• Wanna know something crazier?
• Turns out the boyscout's dad went to the same high school as my husband and me, and he was friends with my brother-in-law
• Wagon pulls up to the berry patch and wouldn't you know it, my mom spots one of her good friends
• Man, I love this crazy universe
• Anywho... back to the berries!
• We all get assigned our rows to pick. My mom, sister and nieces in one, 8 yr old and I in another, and 14 yr old and 12 yr old each have their own rows
• Remind kids to not step on plants and to only pick red berries
• 8 yr old proclaims that he's not going to pick any berries
• Don't argue, but tell him that he has to carry the basket
• Eventually 8 yr old starts to pick berries (I knew he couldn't resist, pat self on back again)
• Shortly after, 8 yr old gives up on picking berries (ugh)
• Try to snap some pics for the old blog
• Observe 12 yr old has interesting method of picking berries while laying on stomach
• Get hit with rogue berry from 14 yr old
• Remind 14 yr old that berries are not for throwing 
• We all taste berries
• Quickly discover that 90 degrees is not the ideal temperature for a strawberry
• Proceed to pick berries for what feels like a total of 10 minutes 
• Kids all claim they are DONE
• Decide not to "force fun" as I want these adventures to be remembered as fun and not as torture (mentally thank husband for that little trade secret)
• Make our way back to wagon with our little red treasures of sweetness
• Daydream about making strawberry jam and other strawberry confections
• Snap back to reality and realize that none of that is likely to happen
• Make promise to self NOT to forget about strawberries in fridge, and NOT to remember that they are there only once they have turned green and fuzzy
• Treat boys with a dip in nana's pool to cool off from a successful morning of strawberry picking
• Pat self on back one last time

Day 2 of Summer Break

Day 2 of Summer Break: Ringing Rocks Park

• Try to make up for yesterday's laziness
• Decide on a healthy, local activity, Ringing Rocks Park is the winner
• Let 14 yr old invite friend along to lessen complaining by said 14 yr old
• Pack hammers and water bottles
• 40 minutes later, arrive at destination
• Short hike to boulder field, take in its beauty
• Start hitting rocks with hammers and hiking over boulders
• Awe at the phenomenon of these mysterious ringing rocks
• Come face to face with big black spiders, the likes of which I have never seen before
• Soon realize that climbing boulders with a hammer in one hand while trying to take pics with the other is not an easy task
• 14 yr old's boyscout friend mentions snakes are likely down between rocks
• Silently freak out and put phone away, so as not to drop phone between rocks and risk meeting any snakes
• Come to realization that this climbing over boulders thing may not be for me
• Can only think of movie 127 Hours and having to self amputate a limb
• Start fear sweating, even though it's unseasonably cool for June 8th
• Universe throws me a bone by way of long branch in middle of boulder field
• Hope rises as I feel confident that I can now make it across boulder field with my new walking stick, and without too much bodily harm
• Make it to end of boulder field, kids look at me like "what took you so long??"
• Follow trail to waterfall
• Think "trail" is a bit of a stretch
• CAN NOT KEEP UP WITH KIDS
• 8 yr old falls and proclaims "I want to leave"
• 12 yr old is in his glory, repeatedly telling me how much fun he's having
• Reaffirm my suspicion that I am most definitely an indoor cat
• Reach falls, channel Chevy Chase looking at the Grand Canyon, and turn around to make our way back to the car
• Internally have meltdown thinking about going back across boulder field
• Feeling winded
• SO FREAKING WINDED
• Notice that all children that share my last name are also dragging ass
• 14 yr old puffs on inhaler
• Observe boyscout friend hasn't even broken a sweat (wtf!)
• Decide that there's nothing that will convince me to climb back over boulders
• Rationalize that I can't be the only person to ever have this thought, and that there must be a "trail" around the field
• 8 yr old and 12 yr old are on Team Mom
• 14 yr old can't punk out in front of boyscout friend, so into the boulder field he goes
• Huff and puff all the way back to the car and reward self with precious water
• 14 yr old and boyscout friend emerge from boulder field, and we all hit the road for a celebratory lunch and ice cream 

We SURVIVED!!!!

***ummm... guess what I did???

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That's right - I figured out how to add pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Felt cocky enough to even add a video.

May have over estimated ability to add video...

Day 1 of Summer Break

Day 1 of Summer Break:

7:31 am - peacefully wake up without having to snooze alarm. Notice dog is still asleep (**remember to kiss husband this evening, for taking her out and feeding her before leaving for work early this morning). Stealthily grab phone, without making a single sound, so as not to wake said sleeping dog. Thumb through Facebook, play a game or two of solitaire, and kill about 45 minutes doing nothing.

8:15 am - the urge to pee overrules desire to stay in bed. Run to bathroom as carefully and hurriedly as possible to avoid peeing pants. Curse 3 kids for taking toll on bladder.

8:17 am - walk down stairs, find 8 year old eating bomb pop shirtless, but wearing shoes, in the freaking foyer. 8 year old proceeds to explain that he already had an Eggo for breakfast, this is just a snack.

9:22 am - 8 yr old finishes 2nd breakfast, consisting of 2 microwave chocolate chip pancakes. Notice his chest stained with blue bomb pop drips. 12 yr old sits next to him with bowl of Tostitos, but no worries, this is "just a snack" because he ate his breakfast when he woke up at 6:40 am. 14 yr old Frankenstein walks into kitchen and complains that he wasn't able to "sleep in".

9:35 am - finally ingest first sip of coffee and envision spending countless hours at grocery store this summer. (**note to self - buy more fruit)

9:45 am - write a quick Facebook post about morning

9:46 am - Google "what to do with kids this summer"

10:02 am - walks into rec room, overwhelmed by smell of corn chips and sweaty boys.

10:03 am - lays on couch and fights urge to pee again...

10:05 am - decides to turn morning into a blog post. Opens blog and realizes it's been two and a half years since last blog post (wtf!!).

10:15 am - is pleasantly surprised at how fast blog post came together. Gets cocky and decides to add photo to post.

12:21 pm - lays in bed disgusted with knack for turning the simplest task into a 2 HOUR technological nightmare. No picture is attached to said blog post. Fonts are 2 different sizes. Two failed attempts on 2 different laptops, plus 1 smartphone.

12:34 pm - can't attach picture, but somehow attaches a link to song stuck in head.

https://youtu.be/LVARcjBTMGE

12:36 pm - All hope is lost. Decides to hit "publish" anyway. Welcome to my house.

*** Update - it took me 2 days, but I finally figured out how to add my picture!!

2015 Golden Globes

I'm baaaaaaccckkk... back with my unsolicited review of the Golden Globe red carpet fashions.

Forgive my brevity, but let's get right to business.

They say great minds think alike, and I guess that's true on the red carpet too! Let's take a look at the Globes biggest trends spotted on the red carpet.

Classic Red - by far, the BIGGEST trend of the night was RED. Always a classic, and always glamorous, here's a sampling of the night's scarlet ladies.

Sunny Yellow - far from a safe choice, yellow takes some confidence to pull off. Leslie Mann's emerald clutch is the perfect compliment to her perfect shade of sunny yellow. Naomi Watts stunned in her Gucci number, and may have won the award for "Best Necklace" with that amazing Bulgari snake. Jenna Dewan Tatum missed the mark in her pastel Carolina Herrera, it just rings a little too "Easter" for my taste.

Winter Whites - It's not just for summer anymore!

Embellished Beauties - these ladies got it right! Less is more when it comes to wearing an embellished dress - keep hair, make-up and accessories low-key, so that the dress can be the star.

Old Hollywood Waves - Legends like Lauren Bacall and Veronica Lake were channeled on the best tressed heads.

Edit, Edit, Edit - This goes back to "less is more" theory. There's a quote that I couldn't help but think of when I saw these ladies walk the red carpet.

"Before you leave the house, look in the mirror and remove one accessory"

- Coco Chanel 

  Amal should have ditched the white leather gloves, this just wasn't the right event for gloves. Julianne Moore probably should have given those feathers a second thought, I can't help but think of how amazing her custom Givenchy gown could have been if it was ombre sequins, the feathers are just too much. Salma Hayek really should have removed at least four accessories before stepping on the red carpet! She had flowers in her hair, statement earrings, metallic belt, quite the arm party going on with those diamond cuffs, a giant bauble on her hand, and she carried a clutch that screamed for attention. Had she wore a sleek black dress, she might have pulled off her accessory-heavy look, but the heavy brocade Alexander McQueen gown just begs for simple accessories!

I'm calling this my "Least Favorite" looks, the name "worst" just seems a bit too harsh. Let me just start by saying that Rosamund Pike could have been on a much different list had she got one very important detail right - the FIT! Her hair and make-up are perfection, her body looks amazing just weeks after having a baby, but I just wanted to reach through my tv and hike that dress up!
I know I'll get flack for this, but I just am so tired of the J Lo "glamazon" look, so tired.

Honorable Mention - all of these ladies really made it hard to pick a favorite! Newcomer Julia Goldani Telles just stuns in this blue Carmen Marc Valvo gown, I will be keeping my eye on her for sure!
Emily Blunt was a breath of fresh air with her Boho braided updo, Michael Kors gown, and gorgeous turquoise jewelry. Her arm candy wasn't too shabby either...

Best Dressed - drum roll please..... it's a tie - Emma Stone & Sienna Miller!

Emma Stone is timeless perfection in a Lanvin jumpsuit - L.O.V.E.

Sienna Miller, what can I say? Her embellished Miu Miu dress, with plunging neckline and asymmetrical hemline, is simply stunning!!! She kept her hair and makeup easy breezy, letting her natural beauty shine through.

Candy Free Valentines

For the last few years, the boys' elementary school has had a "no candy" policy regarding Valentine's Day in their classrooms - no heart shaped lollipops, no conversation hearts, and gasp, no chocolate hearts!
The purpose of this post is not to debate why candy is not allowed, it's just a tale of how I scrambled together at the last minute {procrastinators unite... tomorrow} to come up with a candy-free alternative, let's save the debates for another time.

Two years ago the boys were REALLY into Star Wars, so we made a Star Wars Lego Valentine using the free printable found here and glow in the dark bracelets that we found at the dollar store. They were a hit and super adorable!

So I kind of set the bar high the previous year, and in my usual fashion, I totally planned ahead waited until the night before the school Valentine's celebrations to figure out what the boys would hand out. We decided to hit up the dollar store and look for some inspiration, coupled with some ideas that I had already gathered on Pinterest.

We picked up some rulers - 3 for $1, and packs of adhesive mustaches 6 for $1- SCORE!!

I knew exactly what my plan was for the rulers - thank you Relocated Living! Isadora already had this figured out and she was kind enough to share her genius with the rest of us. Follow this link to her post where she shares a free download for us "last minute roses" that will make us look like Martha {Martha shops at the dollar store, right??}.

Jack picked out a few different colored pieces of card stock from my stash, we printed Isabella's free download on the card stock, cut them apart using my paper cutter, made slits for the rulers to slide into, had Jack sign his name, inserted the rulers and in the words of Amy Duncan, "Ba Bam!"

The mustaches were a bit more time consuming, and probably not something that I should have attempted at the 11th hour, but what's a mom to do when her kid is all about the mustache? It also doesn't hurt that I usually do my best work when I'm under the gun and I have no other choice.

There were some cute ideas on Pinterest that had the wording I liked, but I decided that I needed to reinvent the wheel, since I had all of this spare time on my hands...

I figured that since we were going super trendy with the mustache, we might as well milk another trend that will surely be gone soon enough - my beloved CHEVRON. Thanks be to the free download gods for this chevron download, it comes in quite a few color options, I went for red - it is Valentine's Day after all.
Now please bear with me, my memory is not what it used to be, and it's been almost a year since I made this.
Photoshop would probably a great tool, but I prefer to go the FREE route, so PicMonkey is my go to for editing photos and making printables. I'm not going to walk you through all of the boring "how to's", mostly because I can't quite remember, and partly because I'm lazy and don't feel like typing out the whole process {and there's a huge pile of laundry waiting for me to finish this post}, plus I did the work so that you don't have to - my pain, is your gain!
Long story short, here's my first free printable for you!!! Now I am new to this, just learning the ropes, so you can either right click and save the pic below or save it from Flickr by clicking here. Flickr will allow you to download it in it's original size, which will give you the best resolution for printing.

Next - just PRINT the Valentines on white card stock, CUT them to size {I love to use my paper cutter in the pic below for nice straight edges}, have your child SIGN the back of the card, STUFF the card and a mustache in clear bag {I just happened to have these little bags in my stash, but you can pick them up in the candy making section of most craft stores}, then SEAL the bags with a Valentine sticker or some cute washi tape, but if you're like me last year, you'll just use some clear tape because it's almost midnight and your sister is up late at your house helping you stuff little bags with furry mustaches...

The good news is that we moved over the summer to a new school district, so I don't have to worry about coming up with any new ideas this year - we can just recycle these old ideas - think my kids will go along with that??

Chalk Paint Virgin

So, I've been curious about chalk paint since I first started seeing pins on Pinterest that praised its wonders. Now I will admit that when I first read chalk paint, I thought they were referring to chalkboard paint - I quickly realized that these were two completely different animals, although both are equally admired by DIY bloggers everywhere ;)

This post by the Centsational Girl really piqued my interest, and started my quest for more information on the wonders of chalk paint. I read post after post that sung the praises of chalk paint, namely Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. The only con that was rarely, but occasionally, mentioned was the cost - $38 for a quart of paint does sound a bit steep. Upon further investigation, I learned that this magical little quart goes a long way. Chalk paint isn't absorbed by your wood, it sits on top, giving you great coverage with just one to two coats, depending on the look you want to achieve. One blogger mentioned that she was able to paint five mid-sized dressers with just one quart of ASCP {Annie Sloan Chalk Paint}- that comes to just $7.60 per piece, which sounds not too shabby to me! Another plus is that you do not have to sand or prime your furniture - you literally wipe down your piece to remove and dirt/dust, open your can of paint and get to it. I loathe the prep that comes with traditional paint, so when I read this my brain went "ding, ding, ding, we have a winner!!!" Now, I should mention that you do not need to use a shellac to seal your piece, you just apply two very thin coats of Annie Sloan's Soft Wax to protect your piece, and then buff.

After weeks of internal debate, I finally decided to just bite the bullet and make my first purchase. Much to my dismay, I don't have any ASCP authorized retailers in my area - whomp, whomp, whomp... I'm one of those people that needs to see colors in person, I don't trust my laptop monitor to show me true colors, and one person's description of taupe can be vastly different than mine - example: my Nan, love her, but she has the WORST sense of color of anyone that I have ever met, we continually debate colors! So what is a sad sap like myself to do? Totally out of character, I decided to take a leap of faith and just pick a damn color! After swapping out about four different colors from my online cart, {what can I say, I'm indecisive and a commitment phobe} Duck Egg was the winner. I also added the clear soft wax and a waxine brush and then hit "place order" before I could change my mind again...

For my first date with chalk paint, I didn't want to go away for the weekend {oh yeah, I am totally relating this to dating, even though it's been almost 16 years since I was in that game} I figured we should just meet for coffee and see if we click.

I picked up this little beauty with the curvy legs at my local Goodwill, and brought her home for a cool $10 - talk about a cheap date {wink, wink}
It's a little side table that looks like it did have a little drawer at one time, honestly, I didn't even realize that there was supposed to be a drawer until I started painting, because it looks great without it. This piece was no spring chicken, she has some minor dings and scratches, but I think that they only add to her character. I wiped her down to remove any dust or dirt that was on the surface, made sure she was dry, and got busy painting.
Another big plus is that ASCP is No VOC, so it's safe to paint indoors, and cleans up easily. I decided that I wanted a bit of a distressed worn look for this piece. To achieve this look, I applied one coat of ASCP, one coat of AS soft wax, lightly sanded where I wanted it to look worn, applied a second coat of AS soft wax, and then buffed my piece.

Doesn't she look great? And I am loving the Duck Egg!! It's kind of a soft greeny-blue in person, although it looks more blue in the pictures. Are you ready for a close-up?

Meow... am I right??

So there you have it, I am an Annie Sloan Chalk Paint convert, I'm ready to go steady and doodle our names together all over my notebook... swoon...
I think I may even go all the way and paint my kitchen table and chairs with the charcoal colored ASCP - squeal!

Keeping It Real: The Christmas Edition

First, I need to give credit where credit is due - Young House Love. I'm a big fan of YHL, but I especially love when they do one of their "Keeping It Real" posts, showing us what their home looks like when they are in the midst of a project, or just the day to day hum drum. They remind me that they are human, and they do not live in a bubble of photoshopped perfection.

In this Facebook age, we tend to get altered pictures of what people's lives are like. We are usually shown a filtered version of our FB "friends" lives, the best is shown, and the undesirable is not. I am guilty of this, I mean who doesn't love a good Instagram filter? Seriously, I wish I could walk around with an Instagram filter on - a soft focus that hides my wrinkles and breakouts!

*in the event of my death, this is the pre-approved official picture to be used in any cases where a picture is needed

This is not to be confused with AMC's Dead Yourself filter....

#filtersgonewrong

Now I'm not calling for a movement to show the good, bad and the ugly on FB, I personally prefer to keep FB light and positive. I've even been know to hide people from my news feed that tend to be Eeyores - in the words of Sweet Brown "ain't nobody got time for that".

Ok, ok, I swear there was a point to this whole post - and this people, is why my posts are so few and far between - I am the queen of the tangents! I actually compose blog posts all of the time in my head, they just rarely make it to the Internet...

So without further ado I give you Keeping It Real: The Christmas Edition

Now please don't judge me based solely on this post, although who could blame you?!

Welcome to the week before Christmas in our house: The Christmas cookies are half gone because someone ate most of them herself (I refuse to name names. ok, it was me)... the house is a disaster (we're talking barely fit for humans)... I can't remember the last real meal that I cooked... I'm pretty sure that the last time the bathrooms were cleaned we were eating turkey... my husband is wearing his last pair of clean underwear... the bins of ornaments are still sitting in the family room (pretty sure they've been around since the time of the turkey too)... out of the last 7-9 days, I've only managed to shower 3 times... I cried yesterday when I looked at a picture of the boys from 2011 and it hit me that they will never be that little again, and that those days of Christmas magic for all three of them are over (why???)

'Twas the Night Before Christmas that this mom's heart exploded

Martha Stewart, I am not, but I have been known to Martha it up sometimes. I will also let you in on a few secrets - my house may look spotless when company arrives, but it was a mad dash to get it that way, and there probably is a closet somewhere about to burst... the whipped cream may be freshly made, but the gingerbread is a box mix... the Christmas card may look picture perfect, but it wasn't easy getting that shot with a stubborn 4-year old that thought holding his breath was the way to go...

So why am I telling you all of this? Because I think we all need to cut ourselves some slack. As women, and mothers, we have a tendency to put a lot of pressures on ourselves to create magic and make everything perfect.
The other day I admitted to my husband that I can really only do one thing at a time. I was on a roll with keeping the house tidy, the laundry in check, and getting the kids off to school, but then Christmas came along, and a week + of being sick hit me, and things spiraled out of control. The handmade gifts that I had planned didn't get made, cookie trays to our new neighbors never got delivered, and I never got around to decorating my pretty white tree.
My husband put it best when he said "the difference between us is that you set out to climb Everest, and I set out to walk over the hill."
He couldn't have been more right - I always give myself these unattainable goals, goals that I could never possibly accomplish. Being a master procrastinator does not help my self-imposed situation either...

I think I took a step in the right direction last night when I called my mother and asked if she would mind hosting Christmas Eve at her house. She was happy to host, and I was happy to take 1 of my 3 hosting days away. So now I can host a big family gathering on Sunday, have a couple of days to recover, and then be refreshed to host a lovely Christmas dinner - topped off with some box mix gingerbread!

*on the LEFT - what you will see on Facebook and Instagram              *on the RIGHT - what things look like in reality      

*LEFT - this fell down yesterday, and looks exactly the same today       *RIGHT - someone really needs to clean this up    

*somehow the holding of the breath wasn't captured on film...

Wishing you all a Merry Messy Christmas!