Fruitfly Trap!

I have been having major fruitflies in my house I feel like I'm in a plague of Biblical proportions (ok, I might be exagerating a little) I made a fruitfly trap last night and it totally worked.

This is what I did: I unpeeled a banana and put it in a bowl with balsamic vinegar then I covered the bowl with plastic wrap and poked holes in it. The fruitflies go in but they are too dumb to get out. OMG this morning there were a bagillion fruitflies stuck in the bowl! It was soooo gross! I took the bowl outside. Now I'm not sure what to do with them though! I guess I'll let them go; far far away from the house so that they won't come back in! There were still a couple fruitflies that didn't fall for my evil plot so I'll have to set up another trap today. I don't want any eggs being laid in my kitchen! Yuck yuck!

So excited!

I'm so excited! One of my blog heroes used my picture on her blog header!! I took a picture of a graphic on the side of Mabry's here in Gaffney that I thought she would like and lo and behold she did! Rita at Coffeeshop creates great Photoshop actions and shares them with her readers. She also has a lot of Photoshop tutorials on her blog. I have learned a lot about editing photos from her!

Doorknobs and Hammers

This door has no doorknob.....

This is what happens when:

a. there is a locked door

b. a crying baby on one side and

c. a momma on the other side.

That's one way to do it!

Of course, after knocking the doorknob off, the door still wouldn't open. I called my parents and my dad came to the rescue! Poor Zoe, she didn't understand why I wasn't coming in to get her. Henry may have locked the door but he kept me sane during the whole ordeal. First he made me laugh by saying "you need to get your keys!" "mommy get your keys and unlock the door" then he got a spoon to help me get the doorknob off. While waiting for my dad to get to the house he told me "mommy, you need to sit down and relax, let's sit down and relax a minute". I love that boy, even though he locked his sister in her room!

Kodak - All-in-One Giveaway!

Kodak has some great printers and the best part is that the ink cartridges are very affordable. Kodak is giving away a super mega all in one printer on I heart faces this week! All you have to do to enter is go to I heart faces and leave a comment about what Kodak items you would like off of Kodak's website. (There are other ways to enter, go to I heart faces and follow the instructions.)

Good Luck!

Plums!

Look at these gorgeous plums!

Oh yeah, work it baby!

Can't wait to make these into delicious jam!

Tweetsie Slideshow

Here are some pictures from our trip to Tweetsie Railroad. Henry had a wonderful time! When we were leaving Henry asked "are we coming back to Tweetsie Railroad tomorrow?" The train ride was neat. They had fake animals along the tracks and old west looking buildings. Then they had a little "play" where these cowboys and indians were chasing each other around. It was cute. One of the animals along the tracks was a buffalo and Henry keeps talking about the buff - a - luff. It's pretty cute.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Tweetsie Railroad - Here we come!

Tomorrow we are heading to Tweetsie Railroad I've never been there before but I am pretty sure that Henry is going to L-O-V-E it! I bought tickets for us to ride on Thomas the Train, yes, that's right THE Thomas the Train from the Isle of Sodor. We are also going to meet Sir Topham Hat. I really hope that Henry loves it as much as I think he is. He has been talking about it all week long. It is a 2 hour drive so I am hoping that the kids will not be cranky on the ride up. I know that they will sleep on the way home. I'll post pictures tomorrow night!

Black and White Conversions

I have a New Post on my photo blog with some cute pics of Lindy, Zoe, Henry and Charlie. Trying to see if my B & W conversions look good. Tell me what you think!

I'm starting my workout regime.

Well, it's official, we are going to the beach in 6 weeks and I look like....well, to put it delicately a woman who has been either pregnant or breastfeeding for the last 3 years.

I went to Walmart last night to pick up a few items and while I was there I decided to try on some bathing suits. Bad idea. Did you realize that the mirrors in Walmart dressing rooms add about 30 pounds and make you look pastier than you really are, oh they also make you look 5 inches shorter too. (how do they sell any clothes in that store? haven't they heard of "skinny mirrors"?) Obviously I didn't buy a bathing suit and I was embarrassed enough by how I looked that at 8:15 last night I popped in an hour long workout video!

I am doing the slim in 6 workout tapes. I bought these a long time ago (probably 6 or 7 years ago now) and I'm dusting them off to try again. My wonderful husband is doing the tapes with me. It's great to have a workout buddy! I need to take a "before" picture so that in 6 weeks I can take an after pic and show them side by side. I would post the before now but I don't want to scare little children.

Recipe - Taco Pasta Salad

I got this recipe out of Eating For Life by Bill Phillips. but I have modified it to fit my family since the recipe in the book only made 2 servings. This modified version makes 4 servings.

We have made this recipe several times at the Hawkins' house and after we finished eating it last night I was reminded that I wanted to share this recipe the first time we ate it. It is really yummy and, as long as you use lean beef, healthy too. At first I thought, "pasta with taco meat?" but it really works well together!

1 box rotini pasta
1 pound lean ground beef
1/2 cup water
1 package taco seasoning
1 green bell pepper diced
1 red bell pepper diced (I added this part)

Toppings (sour cream, shredded cheese, salsa, etc.)

Prepare the pasta (you can use whole wheat to make this even more healthy).

While the pasta is cooking brown the meat in a skillet until no longer pink. Drain the beef of excess fat and return to the skillet.

Add water, taco seasoning and bell pepper to ground beef; simmer until the sauce thickens, stirring occasionally

Plating: place a portion of pasta on your plate, top with the ground beef mixture, top it off with sour cream, shredded cheese, salsa, or whatever else you think would be good.

If you try it, Let me know what you think!

New Pictures of Miss Zoe

Lovely Miss Zoe let me take her picture last night:
http://hawklady-selfportrait.blogspot.com/2009/06/zoe-badoey.html

Potty Training Day 5

Well, as I posted yesterday, Henry peed on the potty (twice) the only problem is that he only peed because he started peeing in his underwear and we were able to set him on the toilet mid stream and he just let it flow. I'm hoping that today he will sit on the potty before he starts, that is the goal!! We made a big fuss over him going on the potty so we just will keep on doing it. I called Matt a few minutes ago and Henry has already peed in his underwear this morning so he is still being stubborn. (he also wet the bed last night but he has wet the bed everynight). We just are being calm / not letting our frustration show and we are hoping that this will make it so that there will be no advantage, for him, to keep going to the bathroom in his underwear.

Henry Went Pee!!!

Well, I couldn't wait til tonight. Henry went pee on the potty!!! Matt has been chasing him around the house (and I did at lunchtime) because Henry is trying to get away so that he can go to the bathroom in private. finally he just couldn't hold it any longer and it all came out (on the toilet)! I think he held it in for 2 hours, that boy has got some bladder control (and he's stubborn, not a good combination when pottytraining) Matt gave him a prize and I am hoping that this is it, maybe it will stick this time. (fingers and toes crossed)

Breaking it up a little

Are you getting tired of Potty training? I know I am! I only had plans of doing 3 posts on this and the third saying, "He's totally potty trained, it's a miracle, praise God, Hallelujah!" but Mr. Henry had other plans for me. So, I thought I'd break it up and do a post about something else.

Matt shared this video with me and I think it's great. Matt did this song in church a couple weeks ago and this is the writer/singer of the song telling the story of the song. I ♥ the song but the story makes it that much greater. If you have the time to watch it please do! If you are like me, you will watch it and think that was neat and then a few hours later you will find yourself thinking about it and want to watch it again because you can't get it out of your mind.

Potty Training Day 4

ugh! It got worse today. Now he doesn't even say that he has to go he just goes. I really think it's just a power struggle right now. There is not much in an almost 3 year old's world that he can control but he has found something. He loves that he has something over us that he can control. I had to go back to work and Matt took over. Matt said that he didn't even tell him he had to go but simply said "I'm going pee pee" or "poop" then he would bring him in the bathroom and say "I'm done" tonight when he peed I took him in the bathroom and he got his little toilet seat cover and put it on all by himself without any direction from me and I set him up there with no problem. Then right away, "I'm done". Then when I took him down he said "you need to clean up that mess!" like King Henry. Ugh!!!!! I was ready to just give up today but Matt is set against it. I really don't know what to do!