I have never claimed to be a cook

A while back ago I mentioned that I have to now eat Gluten Free...along with Soy, corn, Olive oil, and egg yolk free.

Meal time has been interesting here. 

Basicly I just eat meat, fruit and veggies. Oh and for dressing I use mustard because EVERY dressing has either olive oil or egg yolk or soy in it. I dare you try to find one without any of those ingredients.

I could make one myself. But I don't think about it until I am ready to eat right then and mustard is right there.

So my Dr mentioned that I might try to start adding egg yolk back into my diet just to see how my body reacts. Well actually they said wait a month. But I am not a patient person and I was needing something different to eat.

So the boys and I made my first gluten free food today.

Chocolate chip cookies.

Last week I found some coconut flour on clearance and I had a huge block of chocolate that I found in my pantry. So I just went with it.

Now I have a confession to make. I haven't had a real dessert since I start this lifestyle change. So when I found this big bar of chocolate I was so excited I took a big bite out of it.

...Or two.

Two months with no dessert equals no self control.

Do not linger a brownie in front of my face. You may loose a finger.

You have been fore warned.

So this BIG block of chocolate needed to be broken down.

I enlisted the help of people who love to bang on things.

Luckily they live with me and will do anything I ask when I tell them that there will be cookies.

Yes, the chocolate is in the bottom of the bread bag. I just ran out of bread and thought I would go with it.

So the pounding with the Handy Manny tools didn't work.

I then put the chocolate in a grocery bag and began to pound it on our concrete steps out in front of our house.

Don't you think our neighbors just love us?

I didn't get a picture of this process due to Wild man decided that Romeo's head would work better then the steps.

Sigh, apparently kindness is a virtue I need to work on with the boys.

We then went inside and I started to put the ingredients together.

Then I got some wild hair and said lets make this thing a cookie cake!

See in life it is good to go with the flow and roll with the punches.

In DIYing it is also a good thing to go with the flow and roll with the punches.

In baking it is NOT good the go with the flow and roll with the punches.

I didn't know that gluten free cookies are drier. Therefore making a gluten free cookie cake makes for just a really big dry, I need to drink something after every bit just so I do not choke on it type of cookie.

Not to mention, it is really ugly.

And the top and bottom where burnt. The picture doesn't show that very well.

Luckily the boys love it but since they too haven't had a dessert in two months I think they would have eaten brussel sprouts if I coated them in chocolate.

Don't worry I will stick with my projects and stay away from baking.

Oh and I had a stomach ache after eating it. So here goes another month before we add egg yolk back.

This post was sponsored by:

Good idea or Bad Idea?

The time has come.

Our property tax has gone up...a lot.

Now there is no way around it.

I need a job that actually pays in bills rather then in snot and slobbery kisses.

So tonight Mr. Genius put the boys in the car and we drove around and picked up these.

Here is my thinking. If I have to leave my family, I want to go to a place that I will love to go and find inspiration.

Well that is my excuse anyways to picking up applications to Hobby Lobby, Pottery Barn, Anthropologie, and Home Goods.

Only time will tell if this will actually help us or hurt us.

This post was sponsored by:

A tale of two Chandys

As I have mentioned before I LOVE chandys. So much so I can't let a good one by. Even if I do not have a single place in my house to put it.

On Craigslist someone was selling a chandy for only $5.

I had to take that poor baby home to fix up.

You can see that there is nothing special about it.

I have been wanting to try out the metallic spray paint.

Why not start on $5 project?

This is the primer and spray paint I used.

I really like Rustoeum spray paint. But it is just what is offered at the store that is closest to me. So due to convenience it may be what wins me over.


First I primed it.

At every angle.

It may not be a bad thing to do some yoga stretches before starting.

Then I sprayed the black metallic paint.

It looks so much better now.

Can you see the little specs of gold and silver in the paint?

It is really hard to capture it in a picture.

But those specs are what makes the paint job not look like a paint job, but like it has always been that color.

I painted our Dining room chandy a regular black rather then metallic and I am not pleased with it simply because it looks like it has been painted.


I tried to take a picture of a comparison of my dining room black chandelier and the metallic black one.

It is so hard to capture those things especially when you aren't a great photographer. But you can see the specs in this picture.

But wait I said there are two chandys in this story.

Here is the other one.

I got this one for free off of freecycle.

I decided to paint it the same black metallic color.

And tada! Here it is.

It came with these domes or big huge bowls with holes it.

I don't really like them. It is a little too much for me.

But it really doesn't matter what I think because these two chandys are going to be my first Craigslist flip!

So now I don't really have to think of a place to put these. I just need to think of making some money to go towards buying the boys some clothes in the upcoming consignment season.

I will be posting to these parties.

This post was sponsored by:

Xpresiv Designs Winner!

To find out the winners go to my giveaway page

HERE!

Introducing...

The other day I was making lunch for the boys and Wild Man and I got into a deep discussion.

Wild Man" So mom... when are we supposed to get married?"

Me, "Well honey I am already married to your daddy. But one day you will marry one of your girl friends."

Wild Man, "Oh...I think I will marry my friend E. "

Just so you know he actually used her real name. We are weird but not that weird that we refer to people by the first letter in their name.

Me, "Well she is really cute. I think she would be a good wife to have. Now where will you live when you get married?"

Wild Man, "Duh, mom. We will live here since all my hot wheel cars are here."

Me,"That is important to keep your hot wheels cars... Do you think that you will have any babies?"

Wild Man, " Of course! We will have a girl named Elise!"

He was very excited about that. Can you tell he has been bugging me for a baby sister?

Me, "So when baby Elise wakes up in the middle of the night will you get up and help the baby?"

Wild Man, "No mom that's a girl job." Rolling his eyes.


Apparently I have some more training to do.

Me, "So what will your job be?"

Wild Man, "I will go to work with daddy and work on apple computers."

Mr. Genius is so proud

So peeps, let me introduce to you the future Ms. Wild Man. Who will be living with me, while playing hot wheels, and being the only one the get up to care for her baby girl Elise. Such a fun future for her.

Isn't she cute? I also like her because she can tell Wild man what to do AND HE DOES IT!!!!

I think it may actually be a good idea for her to live with us for a little while.

I should let you know that I do not randomly take pictures of my boys girlfriends. I took these pictures for a review for one of my sponsors. But it turns out that the sponsor got a HUGE corporate order in. Which is a amazing blessing due to her trying raise money to adopt. But since she is so busy with the huge order she isn't able to take other orders.

E was so proud to get some pictures taken that I couldn't leave them out.

What can I say? I am just a proud future mother in law. ;)


This post was sponsored by:

Xpresiv Designs Giveaway!!

To read about this giveaway please go to my giveaway page.

HERE

Hanging with my Ballard knock off

It first started with Centsational Girl, when she made this drying rack.

I thought...that would be great to have.

Then I saw Ballard Designs drying rack.

And I thought.... I. MUST. HAVE. ONE!

The price tag stopped me. Just like everything from Ballard's site.


So I showed a picture of these awesome drying racks to Mr. Genius, and he was all... I can make that.

I was like, ok lets do it.

And then 6 months later we started.

Isn't that just the way.

So here you go peeps. Our drying rack.

See the butterfly frame from last week.

Here's the deal.

I plan on making another drying rack...by myself. EEEEK!

Why would I do such a crazy thing?

 Sawdust and Paperscraps is having a Buildhers party.






I thought I should use that party to put my big girl panties on and just build something.

Now wait...what does that have anything to do with the butterfly picture frame?

Well Ms. Picky pants, I plan on hanging it up between the two drying racks and would like to make sure it is centered. Plus knowing me when I hang the other drying rack up I may decide to put something else between them.

Now that's enough talking. Lets look at some more pictures of my new rack. hehehe

Also, I got in the top 10 of the DIY club with my stencil cabinet!





The winner is chosen by the one with the most votes.

So....if you don't mind stopping over there and voting for the project that you like the best.

If it happens to be mine...well, I will give you a big smoochy kiss and if you don't vote for me... I will put chicken broth in your cereal.

Just kidding...Maybe.

This post was sponsored by:

The scentsy Winner

To find out the winner please go to my giveaway page

HERE

Blog swap with Keeping it Simple

Hello everyone! I am super excited to be here with you today!! Katie is such a fun, crafty and talented gal!  I just love the name of her blog too, I'm sure all of us can relate!!

Let me introduce myself, I'm Kaysi

from Keeping It Simple.

Here are a few things about me:

I am the mother of three boys, ages 5, 3 and 1

I have been married to an amazing man for 6 years

I love chocolate!!

I love color, green is my favorite but brown and blue are up there

I like to keep things simple, not overdo them

When I get a spare moment, I love to craft or look at crafts

Each day of the week, I have something different.

Motivate me Monday, that's where I have link party and you get to show me all the cute things that you have done.

Tutorial Tuesday, I give a tutorial of a craft that I have done

Whatever Wednesday, this is my day that I put anything up.

Scrapbook Thursday, this is the day that I post a scrapbook idea or give a scrapbook tip

Fridays are the days that I do Blog swaps with other bloggers.

Here are a few things that you can see at my blog:

Fun Star

Dying Leather

Pants turned into aprons

Reversible Skirt

Decoration

Scrapbook ideas

You should stop on by and see what else I have!!

Thanks Katie for doing this swap with me, it's been fun!

The Craigslist love continues

People let me tell you... do you check your local Craigslist?

Seriously you should.

Look at what I scored today.

A desk!

I a thinking paint, new knobs...maybe another stencil.

Only time will tell what I will do.

The reason I liked this desk was for its curvy legs.

It isn't perfect.

But I can totally look past that because of the deal I got on it.

Take a stab on how much I paid for it.

What ever you said...nope.

It was free!

Nada, nothing!

Like I said my friends you need to check out your Craigslist...free section. You just never know what you will find.

This post was sponsored by:

Scentsy Giveaway

For information about the giveaway please go to my giveaway page

HERE!

It isn't in my nature...

Don't forget my giveaway here!

I just can't leave well enough alone.

I just can't.

It is a curse sometimes.

I found this picture frame for $1!!!

You can kind of see in the picture, but this is why it was a dollar.

But it isn't anything a little wood putty can't fix.

Well not a little a LOT of woody putty.

Then for the center of the frame I used some leftover green fabric from the tabs of my no sew projects in the laundry room.

Then got my handy dandy glue gun.

I just glued the fabric right on the board.

Don't worry about making it pretty, cuz really who is going to be looking at the back of your picture frames.

If they do... then you have some weirdo friends.  Or they are just incredible nosy.

Where was I?

Oh yeah how I can't leave well enough alone.

So I put fabric on the board and painted the frame that I puttied to death.

Oh and I almost forgot!

Remember my giveaway and review of the Cutting Edge Stencil from last week?

They sent me the Allium Gladiator stencil.

Notice there are two butterflies on the wall with the flowers.

The allium gladiator stencil came with the flower stencil and two butterfly stencils.

At the last minute I thought I would use one of the butterfly stencils.

I liked it.

I liked the stencil and the green fabric in the background, but I just wasn't in love with the big white frame.

I don't know why, just thought it was too plain or something.

Here is where I went on and I could have just left it alone.

I taped up the frame.

And then painted part of it blue.

I think I like it better.

But I can't decide.

Who knows, I may paint it all over tomorrow.

Oh well, come back tomorrow for another great giveaway worth $40... and maybe a whole new picture frame.

Don't forget my giveaway here!

I am posting to these parties.


This post was sponsored by: