football: Loving the player sites

I'm loving these past BYU player blogs.

Jonny Harline

Gooch, Staffieri, and Criddle

foster: Update...for those of you who know what I'm talking about

We spent only a week at PCMC and then another 10 days at home. It was great being home. No more yucky hospital couch beds and clean clothes. But then there was the terrible fear of infection. Which was perpetuated by our friends experience here.

While home J or I or our Magic Helper had to be home with little boy. If Little Girl went out I was insistent that she wore a mask and used insane amounts of hand sanitizer. We were lucky our Magic Helper was here our first week home and allowed J and I to get out at least daily. Nothing like medical house arrest to make you think of all the things you would like to be doing. Little Girl still had appointments to get to and we had lots of help getting her there. THANK YOU! Wednesday we were told to go back to school! Whooo Hooo!!!!

We are so grateful for little boys quick recovery and hope he continues to heal quickly. We are also so grateful to J's employer for being so flexible with us during this crazy time.

Here's what we did with Little Boy to keep him down and happy (besides an obscene amount of TV):

File folder games
Books
Play dough
Bed forts
Puzzles
Starfall.com
Sock puppets
Face masks out of paper plates

What do you do with your little ones to keep them happy in bed?

craft: File Forder Fun

Update: I LOVE this site also for file folder games. Child Care Land is a great educational resource.

I've been inspired by the IDEA ROOM to make file folders games. I liked Mormon Chic's free games the best and have printed the Black and White copies to color during our 14 day "vacation" at:

stressed with a capital S!

We are mighty stressed at our house these days. I really can't share ANYTHING but I will update when I do have info I can share. In the mean time I'll be MIA the next 4-6 weeks (not like I was really keeping up with the action!) unless something changes in our family situation. Something PLEASE, PLEASE, change!

craft: Neck pillows

I wanted to buy this for little boy:
But both Targets were out. So I used this as inspiration and insturction. I made one for little boy AND one for little girl.

It cost me $14 for 2 but you more experianced Moms probably have everything at home already. For each I used:

1 recieving blanket

1 stuffed animal

1/4 of an old pillow

1 pair of sharp Sissors

Coridinating thread

Sewing Machine

The best part is, it was a FAST project. 1 hour for both.

With all our upcoming trips to the hospital these next couple of weeks I have a feeling we're going to use these A LOT.

Thank you Infarrantly Creative, and UCreate

#9??!!!!

Wow. Wow. Wow. #9 here and #12 here. Don't get freaked out Cougs!

E

project: Alternative Paint for Counters

Sooo If you don't like the look of mine but still what to do your counters I recently found this site. I think it may be a good option!

project: Counters Done!

Ok sooo I DID IT! I refinished my counter tops (doesn't that sound better then "I painted my counter tops"?). Over all I am REALLY pleased. I mean it couldn't be worse then this? Right?



Here's the new and improved product.



I learned a lot and if I were doing it over again I would do several things differently. Here's my story.

Materials

1 roll Painters tape
1 roll Painter's paper
Caulk
5 cans Black Metallic Spray Paint
1 can Black Metallic Spray Paint
2 Gallons EnviorTex Lite (40% off 1 item at Roberts so make 2 trips)
1 Propane Torch (for bubbles in EnviorTex).

My Process

1. I spent a lot of time researching the look I wanted. I always thought I wanted absolute black granite in my kitchen so when I was looking at faux finishing my counters that is the look I gravitated towards. I practiced with a number of spray paints on old pieces of cardboard until I made a decision.

2. I found that I'd have to special order the paint I wanted so I did that 10 days in advance. (Rustoleum Black Granite)

3. I really cleaned my counters. I used TSP and a scrub brush. Did you notice how nasty they were AFTER a good, hard cleaning? I took the time to fix some problems and Oh BOY am I glad I did. I had some large chips missing that that I filled in with drywall compound, and multiple cracks I caulked. Make sure you follow manufactures dry times.

4. Tape Tape Tape. Tape everything. If you use spray paint tape off your floors, your cabinets, your back splash, your entries into the room. I failed to do that last part and I found dust particles in the basement. EVERYTHING in my house needed a good cleaning. Do a good job taping because the EnviroTex is an oooie gooie mess and will seep through everything. Notice how I taped off the sink using a black garbage bag. I should have taken a picture before I started painting. =)

5. I painted 2 base coats of Rustoleum's Black Metallic paint. It's sparkles and is so pretty. I let my counters dry over night. I mentioned I would do some things over. I would have primed the counters with dark primer so I could use less spray paint. Not only would that have been cheaper it would have saved my finger a lot of pain.

6. Next spray lightly the Black Granite Stone paint. I held it up about 12 inches and just did little spurts. I only used half a can on my 15 linear feet of counters. (that was one expensive half can see here.) I let that dry for 4 hours.

7. My downfall, EnviroTex. It's a good product I am just inexperienced and impatient. I followed instructions and mixed well then I poured liberally onto my counters. Again following instructions I smoothed it out and let it self level. It works GREAT on flat surfaces. Unfortunately, I have a "back splash" built into my counters. Getting the EnviroTex to cover my back splash and my edges was not easy. A lot of it ended up on the floor and I had to use LOTS of rubbing alcohol and a dish scraper to get it up.

Also I didn't have enough EnviroTex and had to run to the store at the last minute. Not fun and my counter by the fridge is not pretty. (I'll sand and redo it later, much later.) I didn't use a knife to remove some tape and.... Notice the white spot on the counter.

8. As it's setting up make sure you use the torch to get out bubbles. NEVER leave the torch in one place for long. I'll get little "pot holes" or divots in you finish. So just keep it moving and on low flame.

Over all I'm pleased. and I would recommend you do it if you dislike your counters. The final total... $200. $130 of that is EnviroTex (3 gallons, including the one I'll use to fix my screw ups) and $35 is my 6 cans of special order paint (of which I only used 1/2 can).

Lean From My Mistakes

1. Make sure you have enough EnviroTex. Get 1 gallon more than you think you’ll use. ( you can always return it)

2. Take the tape off as soon as it gels enough to stop dripping.

3.Use a square painter’s sponge on the back splash. I didn’t and I wish I had.

4.Tape Tape Tape Tape. Tape off EVERYTHING well.

5.Wear rubber gloves and have a back up pair, or 2, if you have to take them off before you’re done (you know, bathroom, kids, going to the store for EnviroTex).

6.We used a Sheet on our floor. It has always been our drop cloth. Use something heavier. The EnvrioTex seeped right through it and attached to our floor.

7.Have Lots of rubbing alcohol available for drips on floors cabinets or sinks.

8.If you have a bathroom vanity, practice there first. I wish I had.

Good Luck and contact me if you have any questions!

foster: Protocol

Update: I guess I was a little too angry when I wrote this. Nothing has happened but our information has been compromised. There will be changes coming, partly because someone, probably unknowingly, said some things they shouldn't have. It's not like we're super hard to find but....

As members of the community you are bound to know families who choose to make the sacrifice to foster children. Please, Please, Please, respect their privacy. Never give their full name or address to ANYONE no matter how well you think you know the person requesting information. And NEVER give their name and address to a parent of a child in their care. It puts the family and the children in their care at GREAT RISK. As a member of the community, a family member or friend you do not have full disclosures. You may be unaware of a biological parent's background, mental illness, drug history or a myriad of other pertinent information the State has used to assess the safety of the children in it's custody. Weather you think the removal is fair or not, right or not, or even legal does not give you the right to disclose the location of a foster family caring for children in State custody. The foster family did not make the decision to remove the children and will not make the decision to return children to their biological parents.

Can you tell I'm a little angry? =)

craft: Picture Schedule

Alright. I figure it's time for some pictures. We are super busy with appointments. I mean crazy busy. SOooo, to give the kids a sence of control I wanted to do a picture schedule. I have done this with other kids using these black boards, but these kids are so scheduled I didn't want to be erasing it all the time. This is what I came up with.

I started with an Ikea magnet board and sanded it.

Using some spray paint I made it match my house.


Next came the hard part. Using clipart, I found images to match our life style. Things like Potty, wash hands, doctor, car seats, sleep, you get the idea.
I printed them on card stock, then protected the card stock with clear contact paper.


Next came the easiest part! 2 sided tape holds the magnents to the back of my cards. You can buy the rolls of magnets with tape already on them if you like but I wanted a stronger magnet.


Ikea also has littl magnetic boxes for like $3. They are perfect to hold all my cards in. Everything I need is in one easy place. Love It!

If you decided to do this project I'd love to know what some of you images are. I'm always in the market for new ideas!