Way Back Wednesday

I know it's still Tuesday, but I am posting my way back wednesday pic for this week...please no one remind me that I missed last week :)

Yep its me, in a very short dress, with a very large bow...and an ice cream cone...

Shutter love

My "WATER" theme entry...

Make a dog bed for free....and recycle!

I have two dogs, an Australian Shepherd and a Bernese Mountain Dog.  The dog beds that actually accommodate my larger dog are usually overpriced, so I decided to make my own.  This is actually very simple and it cost me NOTHING. 

What you need:

1.  Old queen or king sized bed sheet
2.  An old comforter or a few old pillows
3.  Sewing machine

My dog bed is large but you can make yours smaller of course.  I cut out two 41 inch x 41 inch squares out of an old bed sheet.  Pin the squares together with the wrong sides inside, facing each other.  Sew together, leaving an opening large enough to stick your arm in to stuff it.  I used a straight stitch and went over it with a zig zag.  Flip the whole thing the right way.  I added a little applique dog bone to mine.  I stuffed my dog bed with the contents of an old comforter and pillow.  When you are all done stuffing you can sew it shut.  Remember to over stuff a little because the bed will get flatter after the dog uses it a few times.  I also "pinch-sewed" the bed in four spots to keep the stuffing from moving around too much.  I know that's probably not a real word but that is what I call it.

Here is Tyson enjoying his bed before his little bratty sister takes over :)

Smiles photo challange...

I don't normally enter these because I don't consider myself comparable to the people who actually, really , participated in these photo challanges.  But I thought I would give it a try, I love this picture, and he looks very sweet there...if I could only add some little horns on his head :)

Hello and Welcome!

I just wanted to say a quick hello to my new followers, and If I haven't gotten to your blog I promise I will later tonight.  I have  another crazy day today with soccer pictures, a soccer game some shopping then my daughters last dance recital...have to make sure the camcorder is fully charged!  I do have a project in mind that I will be posting soon also...and progress on my treasure chest.  Hope you all have an amazing day.

Hoooray for Friday!

It has been a crazy week but Friday is finally here.  This is the first day this week that we don't have to rush somewhere after school (soccer, little league, dance, Girl Scouts).  Even Saturday is completely booked and next week throw in a Red Cross meeting...So tonight we are going to just hang out and watch the best movie of all time....AVATAR!!!  Ok, I will admit it, I didn't even want to go see it at first but now its one of my favorites, and yes, I ran out yesterday and bought it....and I don't buy movies!  Haven't seen it yet???   OMG, I saw it in 3D and must say it was breathtaking.  I do get why they relesed it on Earth Day, since in the movie humans have destroyed Earth and are now trying to have their way with the stunning world of Pandora.  It has a great messege and is visually amazing....ok....I'm rambling, but really, WATCH IT!  I am also getting a long over due haircut tonight which I am totally excited for.   Aaahh!  A relaxing day of new friends, some gardening, the salon and a movie.  Life couldn't get any better than this!

Happy Earth Day

Celebrate the beauty around you!

Girl Scout Earth Day Meeting

We had another wonderful meeting last night.  I love these girls they crack me up with their randomness.  To all parents that are reading this, your kids tell other adults embarassing things about you, so please watch what you say and do in front of them.  Ok, on to what we did last night, since we are approaching Earth Day, we made Recycle Robots.  We used items from around the house like toilet paper rolls and egg cartons to create some crazy art.  I apologize for no robot pics but we started running behind schedule and had a big mess to clean up before our special treat.  So for our treat, in honor of Earth Day we ate some dirt!

They really thought it was dirt at first and didn't want to eat it!

Since we could not do the recycled crayon project at the place we have our meetings, I made some ahead of time so each girl could have two, I also handed out directions so that they could make them at home with an adult. 

Then of course they got their "baby" trees to take home and plant.  They were very excited.  If you want directions on how to make these HERE is a link to one of my older posts

Thanks again Brooks Tree Farm!

Going Green, and going, and going, and going....

I would love to buy all organic foods for my family, but with our budget and the prices of organics, right now its not an option.  The other reason is because of where we live, you have to drive out of town to even find organic foods.  Although having our own organic garden helps in the summer months, winter is another story.  I found this list of organic foods to buy and foods to skip on Disney Family .   They say: "The nonprofit Environmental Working Group ranks 46 fruits and vegetables according to pesticide content (go to foodnews.org for details) — the greater the pesticide load, the greater the reason to consider buying organic"

12 Fruits and Vegetables to Buy Organic:   
Peaches
Strawberries
Apples
Spinach
Nectarines
Celery
Pears
Cherries
Potatoes
Bell peppers
Raspberries
Imported grapes

Go Ahead, It's Okay to Buy Nonorganic:

Sweet corn
Avocados
Pineapples
Cauliflower
Mangoes
Sweet peas
Asparagus
Onions
Broccoli
Bananas
Kiwis

This does make things a little better on the budget, now let hope we get a grocery store with organic options here in town!

Garden Update

My garden is slowly coming along.  Slowly not because I'm being lazy, but because the past couple of nights have brought on frost.  I have seeded radishes and peas (which have sprouted) and planted rhubarb and brussel sprouts.  All of these have been covered the past two nights as not to get frost bite.  I have purchased my tomato plants but they are not yet planted.  There is still much to plant and I am really hoping for warmer nights.  My strawberries (which are in the front yard) are blooming and the dill I seeded in a container has also come up.  I love spring!

Stinging Nettles

Ok, so I am fascinated with a plant callet the stinging nettle.  I have known what it is since I was a child, and have always known to stay away from it.  This plant is considered to be a weed by most people, and when it is touched it stings you and gives you a little red painful blister (speaking from experience).  I have since learned that this unattractive plant is actually an herb.  This plant has a medical history dating back to Medieval Times and was used for many different things such as a diuretic, for joint pain, to treat urinary problems, eczema, arthritis and inflammation.  I have also learned they can be cooked and eaten with a little butter.  It can be dried and brewed into tea, which I have read does not taste like regular tea but more like a broth.  I have not yet tried any of these recipies myself but I do have a patch of this plant growing near my garden.  I picked a few and am waiting until they dry out.  So my question to you all is....have you tried it?  Have you heard of it?  Please tell me if you have any experience with this plant.

A few photos...

Here are a few photos from last week that I wanted to share...

Bubba chasing his cousins around on this thing at his cousins birthday party...guess what he's getting for his birthday!

The girls enjoying the 80 degree weather we had

my little artist creating and getting messy

A Greener Blog

In honor of Earth Day I am making my blog carbon neutral.  You can do it too.  Visit Mach's Grun and they will plant a tree for your blog. This will neutralise your blog’s carbon footprint for the next 50 years.  Thanks to Jolly Green Mommy for the idea!

UPDATE:  Here is the email I recieved today:

Hi Agnes, thank you so much for participating in our initiative and making your blog carbon neutral! Your tree will be planted this month by the Arbor Day Foundation. The scheduled start plant date was Monday, April 19 and the trees will be planted by a contracted crew. The roads are being plowed, all contracts solidified, and twelve shipments of 150,000 seedling each are being assembled. We thank you for the support! There are still some trees looking for a sponsor. So if you know some people who have a blog or website, pass it on and we'll make their blogs carbon neutral too! Best, Christin

The trees are here!

The trees that were donated to our Girl Scout troop for our Earth Day Celebration are here!  They were generously donated by Brooks Tree Farm.  Let's hope I can keep them alive until Tuesday!!

The girls are going to love these baby trees!!!!

Divine Chocolate Cake

I realise I have been slacking on my posts lately, but I have had so much work outside with the yard and the garden.  So to make up for it I will share with you the most amazing chocolate cake recipe I have ever tried.  This is my husbands favorite, and sadly I cannot take credit for it. I found it at Hershey's.com a while back and have since thrown away any other recipe I had. 

Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
1-3/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup baking cocoa
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1-1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup BOILING water

Directions:

1.  Heat oven to 350 degrees, grease two 9 inch round baking pans
2.  Combine all dry ingredients then add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla.  Beat on medium 2 minutes. 
     Stir in boiling water BATTER WILL BE THIN AND RUNNY
3.  Bake 30-35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool 10 mins
     remove from pans to wire racks.  Cool completely.

Now here is my dilemma...the frosting recipe that comes with this recipe is awful...I need a taste tested, never fail, chocolate frosting recipe to knock my socks off.  Please, I am begging, if you have one, share it with me...if you dont want to post it as a comment please email to agnesrhodes2@diaryofasahm.com.
Thanks!!

Way Back Wednesday

Taking it waaaay back today...

My mom and her friends, she is the second from the right on the bottom...love this picture.

Post one on your blog then leave me a comment with the link so I can check it out.

I'm so Excited!

So I told you guys I have some new projects I'm working on....well I can't wait until they are done to share one with you all.  Here it is

I think this says PAT Jul 9, 72  so that would be 1872 right?

This beautiful treasure chest (as the neighbor girl called it, she is convinced pirates left it here) came from my hubby's grandmother's house.  It's been in our basement for over a year.  I finally got the motivation to take on this project.  It also has a tray that goes in it, but it needs some small repairs.  So as if this treasure was not enough, I started taking off the paper that someone glued in for a liner and found this on the inside of the lid.

It's beautiful, I got most of the paper off of it (more than this picture shows) and on the bottom of this picture it says Milwaukee Litho and Engr

Ok, so if that was not enough, I was ripping out the paper lining the bottom and found this

Amazing!  Apparently its from the railroad that my husbands grandfather worked on.  We are Cubs fans but this will definately be framed and hung on our wall.  Ok so back to the actual trunk, I got a lot done on it and its in very good condition...solid.  There was canvas on top of the wood and the whole thing including the metal parts had been painted over at some point in time.

You can see the original metal after I used some steel wool on it.

Its starting to come together!  Can't wait to finish it.

Welcome!

Just wanted to say a quick hello and welcome to my newest followers.  Thank you for stopping by and I hope you stop by often!  My life is an open book and I love to share it with people.  I am very excited to make new friends on here. If you left me a comment and I haven't yet been by your blog, I will do so as soon as possible.  I have a busy weekend ahead with the start of a new project or two as well as starting planting in my garden.  Sad day for my home country today, the president and his wife alond with more than 75 government and church officials died in a plane crash.  To all of Poland, you are in my toughts on this sad day.

Polish preisdent dies

The President of Poland (where I'm from) died in a plane crash today. This is a really good video explaining where he was going and why.  Sad day for Polish citizens.

Storm Clouds

We had a pretty cool thunderstorm the other day (I'm a huge fan) and these were the clouds that rolled in with it

Here is a close-up...photos courtesy of my husband the weather photographer :)  They were so neat!

Belly Baby Tutorial and Giveaway

So the "maracas" I made yesterday gave me an idea for today's project.  Belly Baby.

I cut out bunny ears from pink fleece and some colorful cotton fabric.  Put them together printed (or nicer) sides facing each other and sew together.  Make sure you leave the bottoms not sewn so you can flip them inside out.

Cut out two pear shapes for the body as well as a circle from a contrasting fabric for the Baby's Belly.

Sew the "belly" to one of the body cutouts, make sure its on the good side of the fabric.  The next step I forgot to take a picture of, due to a sewing machine malfunction and lots of frustration.  Put the two body halves together (good sides facing each other)  with the ears in the center, like a bunny ear sandwich.  Pin everything and sew together, leaving an opening at the bottom big enough to insert a plastic easter egg.

Stuff the bunny's head and upper torso area.

Then insert one of the Easter egg maracas that I posted about yesterday, and finish stuffing around the egg.

Sew up the opening and stitch on a little face.

There you have it, all done!

Ok now the giveaway part, when I reach 100 followers I will pick a random follower to get this sweet little Belly Baby!