PhotoHunt: Flexible

Well I am running just a bit behind, but my photo is this little slinky! My mom gave it too the kids this last week expecting them all to just share it like there would be no problem at all right!?! lol I do not know why, but when I checked out the prompt for this week's photo this little toy was the first thing to pop into my mind so here it is in all it's flexible glory! :)

For more of this weeks PhotoHunt check out http://www.tnchick.com/

PhotoHunt

Weekend fun!

This weekend has really been a lot of fun! Poor Spunky has been sick, but she has kept up with everyone else like a champ! :) Yesterday we hung out around the house, the kiddos helped me make these really terrible meatballs lol, they played outside and got all dirty while bouncing the new balls(they have dish washing soap in them so they bounce straight up not all crazy and they are nontoxic if they break open!) we got from the Container store, we watched Happy Feet, had ice cream and the best part for me at least was we went next door to their garage sale and got a new to me washing machine to replace the broken one! WOOHOO!!!! I am so incredibly excited I cannot even tell you! It has been two weeks without a washer in my house and let me tell you it was NO fun!!

Than today we went to a Birthday party for one of Spunky's friends from school! It was a blast, it turns out that it was a double party for her friend and his little brother so there were tons of kids. They had the party at a local park and we had hotdogs, chips, fruit, juice and all the good fixins it was yummy. They had a few activities I had never really thought of for a bday party and they were a hit with the kids and adults! They had the kids each decorate their own brown paper sack for the candy from the pinata with markers, crayons, stamps and those little foam stickers in shapes of flowers, dinos etc. They also had the kids make their own necklaces and such with the regular big colored beads, but they also had beads shaped like insects that were made out of the foam sticker stuff! lol If that made any sense it was really cool I cannot seem to find any pictures of them online.

At the end of the party they passed out these insect shaped masks to each child and my kids loved them. When we got home they had to have me take pictures of them in the front yard crawling around in the bushes acting like bugs! lol So below is the slideshow I made of today's pictures! NO neighborhood cats were harmed in the making of this slideshow! hehehe You will see our neighbors cat looking all freaked out by the kids in the pictures it was pretty funny! Well I hope you all enjoy the pics there are actually a few of me and that never happens! lol

Feedback on yesterday's crock pot disaster!

Alright so yesterday I posted a few crock pot recipes that I was going to try and well I have feedback on one of them! DO NOT MAKE THE BELOW RECIPE!! It was freaking nasty is the only way I can describe it! No one would touch it and it was a total disaster! All you could taste was the ketchup and it was really really tart. I tried to add some seasoning, but there was no fixing it! So just to save you time, trouble and cost DO NOT MAKE IT!
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Sweet and Sour Meatballs:
14oz Ketchup
1 Jar Grape Jelly
12oz Jar Heinz Chili Sauce
and of course the pre-made meatballs cause I am all about convenience! lol

Add all the ingredients to the crock pot, stir and heat on low for 3-4 hrs. Stir occasionally to mix flavors together to full potential!
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I will be making the Polish Cabbage Rolls tomorrow and I am really excited about them! I will definately be back here tomorrow evening to tell you all how the Cabbage Rolls turned out and hopefully they are whole lot better than the meatballs tonight! lol :) If you would like this recipe see the below post or click Cooking is for the birds!

Cooking is for the birds!

Ok so I suck at cooking I will freely admit it, but I am beginning to want to do something about it! So I have gone out an bought myself a 6quart crock pot and joined a crock pot recipes yahoo message group! I figure what better than learning a bunch of easy recipes that you put together and walk away from for the day to come back to an awesome meal!

I am so excited so far I have made a roast and bbq sandwiches from our leftover brisket, but those are both things I have done before. Starting tomorrow I will begin making things I have never made before soooo wish me luck that both I and the kids will eat it! hehehe

So here are a few of the recipes I am gonna start with this weekend:

Sweet and Sour Meatballs:
1 Jar Heinz Chili Sauce
1/2 cup Maple Syrup
6-10 dashes of Soy sauce
Pinch of pepper
Pinch chili powder
and of course the pre-made meatballs cause I am all about convenience! lol

Add all the ingredients to the crock pot, stir and heat on low for 3-4 hrs. Stir occasionally to mix flavors together to full potential!

I also have this meatball recipe not sure which one I will use tomorrow I would LOVE advice and suggestions!

Sweet and Sour Meatballs:
14oz Ketchup
1 Jar Grape Jelly
12oz Jar Heinz Chili Sauce
and of course the pre-made meatballs cause I am all about convenience! lol

Add all the ingredients to the crock pot, stir and heat on low for 3-4 hrs. Stir occasionally to mix flavors together to full potential!

Polish Cabbage Rolls:
1 Green cabbage
1 lb. Ground beef, browned
1/4 c. Uncooked rice
1 Egg
1 Onion, minced
1 Carrot, minced
1 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. Pepper
1/4 c. Cider vinegar
1/2 c. Brown sugar
8 oz. Canned Tomato Sauce

Mix ground beef, rice, egg, onion, carrot, salt and pepper. Mix together vinegar, brown sugar, and tomato sauce. Drop cabbage in boiling water for 5 to 10 minutes. Remove 10 large leaves. Chop remaining cabbage. Place in bottom of crock pot. Place 2 to 4tablespoons of meat mixture in center of each leaf. Roll up and use toothpick to hold. Place stem side down in crock pot. Pour on tomato mixture. Cover and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours. Serves 6 to 8.

So wish me luck! :)

My little baby

Well things have been nuts around here as usual! lol Spunkmeister has been sick and is currently asleep on the couch after a long hard day. Poor thing I feel so bad for her she has the worst cough it just rocks through her whole body and you can see it hurts. This afternoon I took her grocery shopping with me since she has been at home sick and it was really a sweet experience. I initially thought ok let's just go get this done hopefully she will not be so cranky that it turns out horribly which sad to say does happen sometimes. This afternoon though she was so sweet she wanted me to walk close to the basket so that she could wrap her arms around me and lay her head on my chest as we shopped. It took me back to when she was little and we used to grocery shop with her in the sling and Princess in the shopping cart. The times she would cuddle close to me as I held her while we did our grocery shopping.

It made me happy and sad to think about how much she has grown this year and throughout her little life. Her body so warm next to mine as she held me close and asked me all her little questions about everything! :) She is such a sponge and full of life she wants to know everything. Today she was still full of life, but so much more reserved than her normal self which lets me know she really does feel badly. I love my children so much and it is at times like this afternoon I realize how quickly they are growing up and how I need to enjoy every single moment!

Wrapped emotions!

The prompt:

"We are going to get more comfortable with ourselves. We are going to get to know our own face, appreciate it, recognize it and love it. Hold your camera at arm's length and shoot a photo of your face. Oh hush up, yes, get that close. Just face it, this is what everyone is looking at so breath deeply and take it.Upload the photo to your computer and with whatever photo editing software you are using de-saturate it, convert it to black and white. Lighten the image if necessary, make sure the image isn't too dark. Now take your pencil and trace over it...over and over and over. Every feature, every curve and line...trace over it. This is you."

My project:
At first I was really not thrilled with this week's prompt. I took about 5 photos before I got one that did not make me say "You do not look happy" in my mother's voice in my head LOL!

So this is the one I decided I would deal with:

You know after I desaturated and made the photo black and white I became happier with it. Then I realized I was really unhappy with how red my face has gotten over the years.

Here is the after:

It's kind of funny I really thought that this would end up with me feeling worse about myself, but that is not at all what I feel! Once I was done I was more focused on the fact that a lot of my lines were laugh lines and you know that makes me happy! :) I do have a lot of worry lines in between my eyebrows, but you know I can deal with that. lol

What I love about my face:
My eyes are one thing that I love about my face. You can really tell what I am thinking by my eyes well most of the time! ;)

I also love my dimples yes they have turned into huge craters on my face, but I love them anyway. I was all stressed about a year ago cause I had wrinkles around my dimples, my first wrinkles! I was not a happy camper then I realized they were me and they were from smiling soooo it had to be ok! lol

What I dislike:

I hate my NOSE ok I really do! It seems that after I was pregnancies my nose decided that it was not going back to normal size it was going to stay enormous!!! I also do not like my itty bitty lips they are like almost not even there! Despite all this I have to say I am really happy Melody put this out here this week! I needed this, it was an interesting experience to look over my face and trace over and over all the lines. It made me realize it is not so bad the aging process that as long as I am happy with myself it will all be ok! :)

For more Wrapped emotions please click!

WW - I love the fall! :)

For more Wordless Wednesday participants check out these wonderful blogs:

5 Minutes for Mom!

Three Peas in a Pod!

And Miles To Go Before We Sleep!

Why, how and the mechanics of...........

So I am starting off running! lol I signed up for PayPerPost because I saw that there was a way to make money off of something I already did and enjoyed doing! I found out about it through a friend of mine who has done rather well with the company and that was enough for me too want to try it out! It's rather funny I started out in this endeavor thinking I would simply add the html to my livejournal or myspace blog, that is not quite how it has worked. lol

I soon realized that it would be a better idea to get my own hosted blog and that would lead to many many more opportunities! So I got my own blog obviously and went to working out all the kinks. I took my posts off my LJ and copied them here and went to posting! It's been several months now and I have learned SOOOOOOOOOO much while setting up this blog it is almost unreal!! I am very thankful that I was presented with this opportunity it has already taught me a lot! I do hope to finally make some blogging friends soon. I have joined a few communities and hopefully the longer I hang around the more friends I will make! :)

payperpost

The letter "L"

Today's Alphabet Soup is brought to you by the Letter L.

Here are some things that begin with the letter "L" that bring me happiness, joy or that bring some much needed humor to my life!

Love: I think will be my first one because I really am showered in love everyday! I am very grateful for everyone in my life; my kiddos, family and friends. I truly am blessed with lots of love from the people in my life!

Lips: This can stand for my kiddos and the wonderful sweet kisses I get from them. Or it can stand for the lips of a long lost lover whom I miss terribly and cannot seem to make it all ok again.

Leaves: Right now this one enters my mind cause it is actually cold today here in Texas. As I walked across the street from my mother's earlier I noticed the leaves on the trees are finally starting to change color. On the trees in my front yard are leaves of red and yellow, they are so beautiful and it reminds me how much I LOVE the fall! :)

Lip balm: This time of the year I cannot live without my lip balm! lol I became addicted to Burt's Bees Beeswax Lip Balm when I worked for my Aunt in Ruidoso, NM at her bath/beauty store. This stuff is awesome if you have never tried it check it out!

Listening: Gosh this is a big part of my life right now and in different ways! lol I am mom so of course I am hear to listen to anything and everything, be that much needed ear! Although I wish the kids would listen to me at least a little bit as much as I listen to them! lol

Laughter: Of course how could I forget this one! Laughter makes life so much more fun and I really need to slow down and laugh more often!

ETA: I left myself out! hahahaha My name is Leanne so that counts huh?!

For more Alphabet Soup

Tackle it Tuesday my mess runs over!

Here is my tackle for this Tuesday! Since I have been sick my house has gotten completely out of control which I guess is too be expected and our washer died last week so I am WAY behind on laundry! Soooo I am using this tackle to clean up around the house + take down Halloween decor and get some laundry done!

So here is a picture of the 10 or so loads of laundry and one of the living room that I am going to tackle today:



YAY I am done!!

with the living room and bathroom at least. lol I have also put a dent in the laundry! :) So here are the AFTER shots of the living room!



Find out more about Tackle It Tuesday here.