My "Brady Bunch" Life

After looking at so many sites I have really enjoyed reading about not only the craft, projects, etc but also about everyone's family so I thought I would include more family stuff in mine as well!

December 2005: At this time in my life I was a single mother with twin daughters. They turned 7 at the end of December 2005. I met Alex (my wonderful fiance) 2 days before Christmas. Alex was a father of twin boys who were 2 1/2 at the time. (When I first met Alex, I was not really interested in him but we had something in common with having twins and this kept the conversation going!) It was not long (about a month later **I know this is crazy BUT we just knew this was the real deal) before we moved in together and began our life.

Now his boys were born prematurely at 27 weeks. They had traveled a long road to get to where they were. Dominick was better then Justin. He has global delays and autistic tendencies (sensory issues, occupational issues, etc). Justin on the other hand had an IVH the day he was born which caused major brain damage. His main issues are hydrocephalus which requires a shunt, he is still fed throuh a feeding tube in his stomach, he has CP, autism, and sensory integration disorder. He does not walk or talk.

Not long after Alex and I met the boys biological mother left them with us. We did not hear from her or know where she was for 8 months. This is when I officially became a Mother with TWO sets of twins.

It is now January 2009 and we still have custody of all 4 children. The boys bio mom is not really involved (which is sad, but really best for the boys at this point in her life) so I am Mom and I love being so with all my heart. I CAN'T imagine my life without them. We hope to one day (after our marriage) for Alex and I to adopt each other's children legally. Alex has also been the only Dad in my girls life and he has provided and sheltered for them perfectly!

Time and time again people ask me if I am sure that I want to marry Alex and take on the responsibilities that lie ahead of me in regards to being a Mother with disabled children and I guess from an outsiders view this is a rational question (and I always reply nicely, you know us Southern girls) but inside I am thinking, "How could anyone ask this?" In my heart I have 4 children, I am luckier then many because I only had to go through morning sickness and getting HUGE, once....not twice!

Here is my family site that I just started to update family members in New York (yes I am marrying a Yankee with a cute accent--which a lot of Southern girls just find so charming, yea). Feel free to check it out!

I Have Grocery Aisles in My Pantry

A month or so ago I decided it was time to organize and clean up my pantry. I am happy that I have such a huge pantry and figured I might as well take good care of it.

It is annoying though because not everyone in the family returns things to the proper "aisle". The first time I opened the pantry after my organization party the bread was in the breakfast food section which was to the right and down 2 shelves from where it should have been. So I ask everyone, "Who put the bread in the breakfast food aisle", they all started laughing at me. Still to this day I get asked where something is and I tell them the _______ aisle. I mean come on I figured it would be easy to find things based on which "aisles" they are located in at the grocery store, but apparently since I do all the shopping everyone is having to learn these "aisles"!

BEFORE:


AFTER:


The "aisles" I designated are:
(Left Side)
Breads
Boxed Sides/Meals
Justin's formula and baby food
Foils, Wraps, Bags, Etc.
(Right Side)
Snacks/Drinks
Canned Goods
Breakfast
Baking Supplies
Medicines, Etc.

It really does make you feel good to have your pantry organized, so if your pantry is a mess, get to work and feel good!

It's NOT a Good Thing

While I was working on my last project I messed up towards the end. I thought to myself that "IT WAS NOT A GOOD THING" to do and I put it in my memory bank so I would not do that again. Then I thought of the name of my blog "Martha DON'T Do It!" and I remembered Martha famous saying of "Good Thing", so I thought I would start my own saying of it's "NOT a Good Thing".

#1: After applying Mod Podge to the front of my plaques I was going to apply some rope on the edges. This ended up not looking right so I took the rope off and thought I would just pull the hot glue right off. Well I learned that it is NOT A GOOD THING to try. Apparently when I put the hot glue on top of the Mod Podge it all melted together, therefore when I went to remove the hotglue it was almost impossible to do so. I ended up having to sand and pull and sand and pull at the hotglue until it and some of the Mod Podge came off. That is why I had to attach the ribbon to the front of the plaques and is why I ultimately sent the Valentine plaque redo to the project grave.

Stay tuned for more postings of it's "NOT a Good Thing"!

Valentines Part 2

Here is something else I have done today. This actually involves something from my Dollar General cheapo finds!! Since discovering all of these crafty blogs, I have a new best friend...........Mod Podge. Now I know most of you have the same friend as I do, I would like to say thank you for letting me be her friend also! Ever since meeting her everything I see becomes a project that I could possibly do!

Here was one of my ideas.....

Plaque I got at Dollar General for $.30 (90% off)


The 3 squares were held together with wire. I tore them apart with scissors (I need a new pair now) to seperate them. I then painted each square red. While waiting on the paint to dry I cut out some letters from some scrapbook paper I bought yesterday at Hobby Lobby (they had/have a sale 4/$1.00 of 12x12) and Mod Podged them on the squares.


After a few problems (as usual) I ended up attaching ribbon with hot glue. I originally wanted to attach the ribbon on the back just visible in the spaces, BUT because of my mess up earlier I had to cover up some lines on the front so I put the ribbon on the front.

I did all this to find out that this WON'T WORK either. Because of this new blog, I really thought differently after doing this project. I realized I have a lot to learn (which will lead to another post). Anyways, once again I think I had a good idea, it just did not work. Here is the project as it stands now, I am going to try to figure out something to make it hang with a bow (oh wait, I have to learn how to make a cute bow.....man I have a lot of work to do!)


I guess it will go to my project grave of unfinished projects until I feel like messing with it again.

After Christmas Deals

**Side Note: I am not sure why the picture is flipping sideways, sorry!

Have I mentioned that I totally LOVE, LOVE, LOVE shopping for really CHEAP stuff. In regards to after holiday sales I do not feel that 50%-75% off is a good deal. A good deal is when holiday items are marked down to 90%!

Yesterday I stopped in at Dollar General to pick up some dog food and low and behold their Christmas stuff was FINALLY marked down to 90% off. I picked up 2 wreaths, 3 hanging plaques, 2 decorative towel sets, 2 little trees, 4 candles, 2 packs of tissue paper and 5 baskets for $4.00. Most of the items will not even be used at Christmas as I have other ideas in my head for them. I am actually letting paint dry on one of the items I bought turning it into a Valentine decoration which will cost me 35 cents!!!

Valentines Part 1

I discovered the wonderful world of craft, diy, nest blogging when I googled "diy valentine crafts". That was about a week ago and most nights since then I have stayed up after all have gone to bed to look, look, look and look some more.

Here is my first Valentine craft, it is a banner that says "Be Mine". It was quite simple to make. I cut out heart shapes in pink and red construction paper. I then downloaded a "valentine" font from a fee font site and I printed out the words then cut them out. I glued everything together, punched holes in the top of the hearts and strung it together with some cute cord I found. This is a project that you can incorporate with any holiday. I am already thinking of an Easter banner!

What kind of Blog Title is This?

Being that this is my first post I will provide some insight.

I am mom to twin girls and engaged to a wonderful man with twin sons. I guess you could call us the We are the New Age Brady Bunch. We have custody of all 4 children so life gets pretty hectic at times, but this is all we know and we love it!

I TRY to be a coupon mom, but I have found I lack the organizational skills to actually be good at it.

I have an obsession with spray paint and will spray anything.

I love to TRY to be crafty, but for some reason my projects never turn out like others. I usually have to get my fiance, Alex, to help me (which I am thankful he actually enjoys working on projects with me and he is GOOD at them). The running joke around our house is that whenever I attempt a new project he says "Oh NO, Martha DON'T do it!" I enjoy trying to recreate Martha Stewart crafts (along with things all you other wornderful blogging crafty monms make) , but I am no Martha that is for sure.

I am also obsessed with buying storage containers oh yea and I can't forget picture frames. (Whew the relief I felt when I discovered I was not the only one that had stockpiles of both.....I was sure to call the fiance over so he could witness other ladies' stockpiles, I think he mumled that we were all crazy, he he).

Hopefully one day I will be as good as all of the other crafty moms and my creations will inspire others, but if not I guess I will just settle knowing that maybe I made your day a little better after making you laugh at my attempts.