A Vent and a Tip

I am unfit to be a mother is how I am feeling today. My back is giving fits so I am feeling so much pain that I can hardly stand it and can barely walk. Do they care though? Not in the least bit. I know though this is because they do not understand and are used to mommy being able to lift them up, get them their drinks, food, etc, and all the things they need to care for them, but still I take the pain out on them so unfair. I find myself yelling at them when they are just wanting the normal demands that a child needs. My oldest is very sweet and will pat me or give me a little kiss or say “sorry Mama”, but as soon as he wants something seems to forget. At the moment though I am trying to get them to sleep. I thought I would try to be kind and motherly and lie down by them for a bit but I found that each movement just irritated me more as it jarred my back and each word spoken just made me want to snap be quiet threw gritted teeth as they were refusing to go to sleep so thought it best to just leave it be and try to ignore the noise while I just sit out here and try to let out some frustrations and try to get some relief by putting ice on my back again with a handy comfort Pad . Hope this feels better soon and we can all get some much needed rest and feel better.



On a lighter note it may be a good time to share this little cleaning tip with you. I have been using vinegar to clean with for a long time. I like to use for everyday cleaning such as wiping down counters and the table as I don’t like the thought of all the chemicals being used every day on them or the little ones spraying it since they like to help with the chore of cleaning the table. We all know that vinegar is not really the best smell though well, I saw this on Pinterest and just modified it a bit by using full strength vinegar and not diluting it with water. So you put some orange peels or lemons, Peels of whatever citrus fruits you may like in a quart jar then fill with vinegar and let it sit for two weeks it is then ready to use. I put it in spray bottle and use as I would any cleaner. I have so far only done this with orange would like to try adding in some lemon. This smells much better than vinegar plain and is safe for the kids to use to help with cleaning!



I suppose soon it will be time to let get up again they have been lying down for a couple of hours now refusing to sleep. I guess it will be early to bed tonight!

Another Painted Countertop and other Projects

I have had a bit of a delay in posts here, it has been a busy past month and writing posts every day for a while I did get a bit burned out with blogging! It has been a good busy though as a lot has gotten accomplished around here! We enjoyed having my parents visit! I always feel bad that it seems my dad always has some work to do whenever they come! He did get a lot done thought while he was here. One of the things he did was put in a dishwasher for me! I am so excited to have one again! Dad built a shed, mom and I painted the kitchen cabinets. The cabinets with their fresh coat of paint inspired me to do more painting in the kitchen so I painted the walls and yes painted a countertop here is the story on that…

Down in our basement laundry room was this old cabinet that was in very rough shape. I wish I had a before picture to show you of it but the sides were falling off and it was well just real ugly! My dad though while he was here fixed it up put new sides added some drawers etc... He bought some old wood to use to make a wooden top for it but did not get to that while he was here so he took them home with him to work on them there and will bring them along next trip out here! In the meantime though the top of the counter top as it was I could not live with it was stained really horrible looking!



the only before photo of course by this time cabinet part has been painted!

Tutorial...

Here is a close up of the counter top before

Stained with paint and who knows what else, also places where the laminet top is craked and bulging!


First thing I did was take off the top and flip it over to start over with the wood side...there is some holes!


I did some sanding


Filled in the holes and crakes let it dry then sanded again


Rolled on a coat of primer


Using a scrunched up paper towel I dabbed on my first color of paint I used three colors a light tan and a little darker tan and the black. I also tried the experiment of sprinkling in some glitter. (It didn't really stick real well)Then dab on the next color and just and dab on black in small fewer places just keep repeating the layers until you get the look you want.


Once dry very lightly sand

Add several coats of polycrylic. I did seven coats gave it a two hour dry time between each coat and lighted sanded between each. I let it cure 24 hours before I put anything back on the counter If you can wait longer is better.


While it does not look perfect it looks much better!

Catch up/Project 14

We need to do a little catch up here we have had a busy last few days. Project 14 was sugar cookies! We had so much fun making them and decorating them with good friends. The kids actually only did one cookie each then were ready to get back to playing. Adult conversation while decorating what seemed like thousands of sugar cookies made for a good time by all. The sugar cookie recipe is one I got from my sister-in-law and they stay soft and fluffy, melt in your mouth and are amazing. I will have to ask her permission to share.



Cuting out


Decorate



Cookie anyone?




We had a fun time with Grandma and Grandpa and are looking forward to the other set coming tomorrow. My hubby and I will get to do a little Valentine/birthday getaway together while they are here!



We did an extra project today! I have been wanting to do this one since the beginning of the month but did not have the paint. Grandma brought us our paint. It was left at our house we moved from and I didn’t want to buy more when I had almost a full gallon on its way here. Good thing the boys’ foot prints are adorable and what makes the picture because I do not like my writing. This was done on an 8*10 canvas, I picked up a pack of two at WalMart for about 10 bucks!

Happy Valentines day!

Happy Valentine’s Day from all of us at ShannaMade!



Yesterday we had busy day wth project 13 valentine baking!!! Don’t really know if I can call it baking since all we did was no bake recipes. I just mentioned the word cookies and Remington wanted to do Cookie dough cookies…Yes a recipe that is eggless cookie dough not for baking but just eating the dough! This one is my favorite pinterest pin! So we made cookie dough heart bites. We also made another of our favorites some homade reeces and we attempted to make in them hearts it didn’t work as well but we did manage to get a few! This recipe calls for semi-sweet chocolate I use milk chocolate for mine. Recipe links are at bottom of page!


Big Helpers!


Cookie dough hearts


The peanut butter choclolate hearts and the rest of it the chocolate kept craking on us! Guess we let it chill to long.

Eggless cookie dough


No bake reeces peanut butter bars

Project 12- a lost privilege

I have been working on getting the last of few valentines photo/cards sent today. In the card for my husband’s grandparents I wanted to include a personal note as well so I got some card stock for the boys to draw a picture on for the card. Then the plan was to do this quick then our project. I got the crayons out and told Remington I needed to draw a picture on the card. He whined about needing a bigger one etc, etc so I decided to let them use stamps on it as well and stamp with hearts and love stamps. I went in my craft room to get the stamps and Remington was gone…he had gone upstairs. I grabbed all of the crayons and paper everything we would need and headed up. I get to the top of stairs and on the landing is green crayon scribbled on the floor, I walk into the kitchen green crayon all over the kitchen floor into the dining room and there is green crayon all over the kitchen table and still no sign of Remington (he is hiding in his room) So I told him he was going to stay in his room and stay on his bed in hopes that he would go to sleep. I let Winston make the card for Great Grandma and Grandpa. Remington stayed in his room for a while and was actually good about staying on the bed whining only once in a while that he wanted to come and the project and that he was going to be good now.(The story anytime he gets in trouble or doesn't get to do somthing.) It was already getting late and almost time for daddy to get home I decided to let him come out and not have to take a nap on the condition that he picks up his toys in the basement playroom. He whined some more about wanting to the project and tried to explain as best as I could to a four year old that sometimes because of our behavior we miss out privilges and sent down to clean up.

My boys need to get more sleep! They have been refusing to take naps and they wake up early. No matter how early or late they go to bed they wake up at the same time. They need to get more sleep as well as does mommy and everyone’s behavior is showing that! Hopefully we can get caught up soon and all be more cheerful with our company coming on Friday! My husband’s parents are coming this week and my parents the next so we are looking forward to that. My parents will be here for a little over a week so while they are here my husband and I will get to take a little valentine/my birthday vacation for a couple of days while they stay here with kiddos. We are looking forward to a much needed break. Here is to hoping we are up for a project of making some valentine sugar cookies within the next couple of days! I need to go check on how project clean up basment is coming along!