In honor of this sweet little face not having an accident for going on 48 hours now, including a trip to Walmart where she actually told me she needed to go and ACTUALLY did need to go and actually went on a toilet!! Which she had not done yet because she thinks toilets are scary and she will surely fall in. We are using the dreaded potty chair. Something I swore I would never do, but my petite little girl is all of 26 pounds soaking wet, my strapping lads were 31 and 34 pounds when they potty trained and could handle the toilet; she can not. And frankly, I am doing whatever it takes to be rid of diapers.)

Nuff rambling on.

In honor of Princess relieving me of my stalker duties, I have time to blog a little bit. And I have decided to share a little project that I made over the weekend. In the late night hours when everyone was sleeping and I can breathe, and my creative juices allow them selves a little more than making octopus-hot-dog-lunches.

Saturday night it dawned on me that I had to face 3 hours of church with a child on the edge of potty training and taking a potty chair, while very tempting, just didn't fly with the over all feeling that church was going for. I had purchased a foldable seat that fits onto a regular toilet and was planning on bringing that. But then I thought: I will have to bring the entire church bag with me each time we attempt to go during church or walk out toting my very obvious toilet set. Again, not so much the feeling church is going for. So I thought I would make a little tote to fit it in. Something that is very similar to a diaper tote. The time that this thought entered my waking creative brain was pushing 10 pm. Kids were sleeping, stores were closing, so I needed to use stuff that I had on hand.
I rumaged through my fabric stash and found my old, ripped jeans that someday will become a quilt, and thought- why not?? So the wheels started turning and usually when they start turning the hands start cutting too- be it paper, ribbon, food, or fabric. Wheels trun... hands cut.

And this is what they cut this time.

A size 6  pair of levis. The right leg, including the zipper. About 12 inches down the leg. Make sure that you aren't cutting the bottom of the pockets, becuase then extra little storage pockets would also be lost.  
Before cutting the jeans, make sure that whatever you want to fit in there will infact fit. My size 6 (kids size)  semed to fit what I wanted in there, but after getting it sewed together, it was snug. I was really glad that I had the zipper to give me a little extra room to jam my goods in there.

After you get it cut, flip in inside out and sew the bottom hem with a zig-zag stitch to give it a little extra strength. I went over mine twice just to be sure it was strong. Oh, and when you are sewing jeans, remember that the hems are very thick and your machine will likely stall, or needles will break. I find that when I am sewing the hem section, turning the wheel by hand very slowly while wiggling the fabric a little gets the job done.  But more likely than not, you will break a needle on the hem.

Then you are going to sew up your zipper area. This is where my needle broke. And poked me in the eye.
I took a break and ate some ice cream at this point to recover from the eye trauma.
It was Blue Bunny Chocolate with Salted Caramel. You can go and get some if you want. I will wait. :)
Upon returning I found that what worked better was to unzip the zipper and sew just the outside sems together. It also makes it possible that you can unzip the tote when its complete and allow for a larger opening at the top.  Zig-zag it again. You will need to continue sewing down the inside seam on the jeans until you have the whole side together to make the tote side. I followed my seam , but then when I flipped it righside out, it was a funny shape on that side; so then I flipped it inside out again and sewed a straight line down crossing over the seam so my tote would me staight.  Save your self the time and just sew a staight lne down the side.
Then, with the inside of the zipper, there will be a little section that has unsewn denim at the waist band. I just zig-zagged that too so I wouldn't have a freying problem. 

Once your done sewing flip it rightside out and you will have something that looks like this.
Its fully functional and could be left just like this, if that is all the energy, creativity, time or patience that you have. You could stick whatever you made it for in there and be good to go.

But you know me. I cannot leave well enough alone.

So I started decking it out.

I wanted a strap, just a short one. So I ripped 2 strips of this left over coral fabric that I had, each strip about 2 inches wide, laced it through the belt loops, centered my excess at the zipper and then stuck a little hot glue on the back sides of the belt loops so it wouldn't bunch up then tied a knot at the end of the pieces where it met at the button so I had the excess where I wanted to open the button and zipper. My 2 strips were just shy  of remnant ege to remnant edge of my fabric. So probably about 35 inched long. It leaves me a stap about 8 inches long
 Then I wanted to bling the back pocket.

To make the big white flower, I cut 5 circles. The size of your cirlce will be the size of your finished flower, so if you want a large flower- cut a large circle. One at a time, fold the circles in half, I like to overlap mine just a little bit- about 1/2 an inch so you get the look of a layered flower, with the printed side of the fabric out, and hand sew a straight stitch- baste size- on the folded seam. String each circle on the same piece of thread without cutting or knotting the thread. Once each circle is on the thread, pull the tread tight and  make a stitch to join the two end cirlces together. I don't have much luck knotting the thread to finish it off, because the thread usually loosens a little bit and doesn't give me the look I'm after. So I just put a dot of hot glue on the back side and with the thread as tight as I want it, I bury the thread in the glue, wait a bit for the glue to cool, holding the thread tight the whole time. When you can let go of the thread and it stays put, you can clip the excess thread. Finish the flower off with a button, or bling, or whatever you want. I layered 2 buttons together on mine, threaded embroidery thread through the eyes of the button to give it a finished look then glued the buttons to the flower.
 
To make the smaller coral flower I ripped a piece of fabric about 6 inches long and 1 inch wide then just basted along one side, tightened my thread, joined my two ends together with a stitch and glued my thread down. Then finished the center  with  a button, you can use what ever you want to. 
The other bling on the pocket is a large button with a smaller flower button  nested inside it.
I hot glued all the pretties onto the edge of the back pocket, made a few felt leaves and glued those where I liked them. Then I flipped the tote over.

 The three rose looking felt flowers are made by cutting a circle out of felt (you can use fabris too) then you cut a spiral into the felt leaving about a dime size circle in the middle.  If you want a big flower, you will need to cut a large circle, and leave a larger circle in the center too. I cut  these cirlces about the size of the base of a  baby bottle and my finished flower is a little larger than a silver dollar. I have made circles about the size of a  cereal bowl  and come up with finished flowers about as wide as a drinking glass.  Your finished flower is usually about 1/3 smaller than your original circle. The width of your spiral will be the hieght of your flower. Starting with the outside of the spiral roll it up, kind of loose, but not loose enough that its unwinding as you roll it. Once it wound up, cover the  entire center circle with hot glue and press the wound up spiral into the glue, work quick and spread it out a little to your liking before the glue dries. Give it a little tug and make sure that you got glue on the whole base so you rose doesn't come apart.
I grouped my flowers together, added some felt leaves and hot glued it to the pocket corner. Then I just used layered button again to line the edge of the pocket.
I liked the way mine looked at this point and called it quits.

Plus it was 1 in the morning and I had an 8 am meeting to get to.

My tote is big enough tha it fits a foldable toddler toilet seat and a Huggies travel wipe box,  I can fit an emergency pull up in the back pocket, and a travel size hand sanitizer in the front pocket. I have to unbutton and unzip the top to get the toilet seat out, just because its a  little bit too wide, but if you are using this for a diaper tote, you could easily fit a few diapers and a wipe box in there.
If I were to do it again, I would use a larger size of pants. I think for my purpose I would go for a size 10 in kids. The boys just haven't grown out of or trashed a pair of them yet, so 6 is what I had to use.

Thats all for me tonight.

I know I still owe you a recipe for reesses peanut butter cup cake balls. I didn't forget. But my adorable 2 year old is getting sleepy and this is when I get my snuggle time with her.  The recipe will have to be another day.

So the

I would so totally love to be blogging right now. I would love to be doing just about anything other than what I have been doing for the past 48 hours.
Get ready people.
I am potty training the princess. Again. But this time I am not giving up.
The princess who is arguably the most stubborn person that I have ever met. (Other than myself. And, yes she most likely got her stubborness from me.)
It goes like this: I ask her if she needs to go, she says no. 10 minutes pass, I ask, she declines. 5 minutes pass; I ask she declines- she is then forced to sit on her potty chair for 5 minutes to try to get something to work. She screams. The entire time. And hits. And kicks. And arches her back- so even if she were to go I would get a nice little sprinkling of the deed. :(   Yesterday, the stubborn little child went for 4 hours 30 minutes without going at all, because she just didn't want to. This is the stubborn that I am talking about. 4 hours and 30 minutes!!! And she is only 2 1/2!!! I can barely go that long. Today she finally cracked at 3 hours.
The fact that this very stubborn child is so defiant and will not just go like a normal 2 year old has forced me to become a stalker. I have to follow her around my house EVERYWHERE! And she gets out right mad at me for doing such. She yells at me "Go see daddy!" "You get out!" "I don't want you!"  "GO AWAY!!"  It makes me feel so loved, on top of the hitting, screaming and kicking that I am greeted with when placed upon the baby-comode. My life has been a treat for the past 48 hours.
But I will not be defeated by a 2 year old.
You see, if I do not have the princess potty trained by June 24, she gets to join Kevin and I on our little escape for 3 days.
I. Will. Not. Give. Up.

Not only do I get to deal with Princess-I-Will-Not-Go, but Kevin also decided that now was the perfect time to get a super fun infection in his ankle. It has swollen up to the size of my thigh and he has to use it minimally for the next 3 days. So my world consists of stalking a 2 year old and waiting on a 38 year old.

The peanut butter cup cake balls are my only friend right now. And the last of the chocolate covered frozen bananas. (recipes will be shared afer I am done stalking.)

What am I saying here? What is the point of this blog today??

Potty training stinks.

Ankle infections stink.

And cake balls rock.

That is all.

I shared this recipe once on facebook with a few friends but I have tried it a few more times, messed with it, improved it and I am sharing it again! Its a super simple recipe and makes really moist and healthy muffins- pretty quick too. My kids turn their nose up to any other muffin, but will eat a full dozen between the 3 of them of these ones. I made some this morning and intended on taking apicture of one so I could give you a visual, but they were too quickly eaten. So use your imagination and copy this one down.
Here you go friendly people:

Yogurt bread

1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 egg
1 cup (8 ounces) any flavor yogurt
1/3 cup oil
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 325*.
Put everything in a bowl and mix it together. No need to seperate dry ingredients from wet ones, jut pour it all together, give it a couple stirs and your done.
Spray a loaf pan or muffin pan or use muffin liners and pour the batter in.  Bread cooks for 45-50 minutes (check at about 40) and muffins cook for 25-28 minutes. Use a toothpick to check the center, because they don't brown too much.  Let it cool a little bit and enjoy.

I told you it was easy.

And imagine the possibilities! Yoplait makes how many different flavors of yogurt?? You could have a new flavor of bread or muffins everyday for a month!

This morning I took strawberry yogurt and added about 1/2 cup smashed banana to it. By the time I came home from a 30 minute meeting there was only one muffin left. It was super good. I imagine that you could use other fruit in there too to liven up the health value in it. Try vanilla yogurt, put in some apples and top it with granola for an apple strusel muffin. Use orange creamsicle yogurt and add cranberries.  The world is your limit! Actually the produce section and dairy section are your limits, but who's keeping track!?

And if your one of those Greek yogurt people (which I most definitly am not. Tried it 3 times and each time it tasted like a different version of once freeze dried and since rehydrated yogurt. YUCK!) you can try that stuff in there too!

I am drooling, people. Good thing its breakfast Sunday and I just hit Walmarts double coupon Tuesday and stocked up on the Yoplait. :)

Oh, and one of you people get brave and try it as pancakes. 
It may change your world.
Report back.

 HAPPY COOKING!

I have this grandma- who is arguably the BEST grandma in the world- and every time that I go visit her she insists that I do not leave her house without taking something home with me. She has taught this to me and nearly every person who comes to my house leaves with something in their hand. This time went I went to visit her she gave me jars. Some of them were Mason jars that I gave to her full of jam, and some of them were store brought jars that once held food of some kind. The mason jars I refill with jam and usually return to her; its an on going cycle that the two of us have.  The other jars I thought about throwing away, because really what can you do with a used jar? Then I remembered that long ago in my grandpa's wood shop, he used to take jars and use them for storage. I am always looking for storage  that will free up a little space on my desk, so I thought... why not? And if I am going to make a simple project- I will share with you a step by step how to.

First thing: Take your lids and screw them to the bottom of your cabinets.  You will need to put 2 screws in each lid. If you only put one, the lids will turn and it will make screwing them onto the jar much more difficult. Make sure that your screw is short enough that you won't poke through the cabinet, because then you are going to leave a project for your husband to fix. No one likes that. 
It really helps to drill a tiny hole through the lid before hand too, metal is not the easiest thing to put a screw through.

Here is what your lid will look like with the 2 screws in it.

And here is what all the lids look like after you get a bunch put on. You really don't see the lids as much as you can in this picture, I just wanted to show you a good shot. Are you geting the idea of the storage yet? The jar screw onto the lid that is now screwed onto the bottom of the cabinet, so the jar seems to float, as my kids said.

Now, you could stop right here. It looks functional and serves the purpose of freeing up desk space...

OR...you could get creative and add some cute paper or fabric to the jars to make every one turn their head when they see them.  If you want to make it all cute-sie then you will need to measure the length of the face of the jar- the place where a label would go- and you will need to measure around the jar. Lets say that the surface you want to cover is 3 inches tall and 9 inches around. You will need to add about 1/2 inch  to the distance around the jar so you have a good piece to make a seam.  So the paper that you will cut will be 3 inches by 9 1/2 inches.

Hot glue works like a charm to adhere the  paper to the jar, but make sure that you put the glue on the paper and not the jar. If you put it on the jar it will cool too quickly and you will have a lump there. Plus it peels off pretty easy. Put the paper on as straight as you can, because neither the jar nor the paper has any give and you can't really hide the crooked look.

Now, you could stop right here if you felt like this was good enough for you. I wanted to go one step further and put some labels on my jars. So I got out some ribbon and paper punches (I know- retro!) and I dolled my jars up real good!

And this is how they turned out!! I am so happy with them.  Cute, functional storage, freed up desk space, up-cycled grandma's pass alongs all in under 1 hour.

If you are so impressed with my upcycle project, you should go try it. And show me a picture of how yours turned out.
Happy crafting!!

I paint. A lot. Many different things.

Through all my painting I have learned a few tricks. I will share.

*Never paint with shoes or socks on. Always paint barefoot. If you step in paint drips with bare feet you will know far sooner than when you see you have tracked it all over your floor.
*If you only get partially done with a paint job, or maybe your whole house is painted the same color and touch up painting is frequent, you can freeze a paint brush with paint still on it, thaw it and it will be as good as new. Toss it in a ziplock bag and freeze it!  It works really good with rollers, but I wouldn't reccomend it for more than a few days with a brush, it gets kind of gummed up toward the top and makes the brushing a little harder.
*If you are using a paint roller and therefor a paint tray, don't wash it out. Let the paint dry in there and it will peeel out like peeling off a sticker. It only works with plastic roller trays- metal trays will bond with the paint. Plus if you are like me and you like peeling glue off your hands, it will be 10 times the pleasure.
*Don't want to take hinges or door knobs off of something that you are painting? Rub some petrolium jelly on it- generously- and then paint. When you are done, rub the metal with a rag or paper towel and the paint will come off pretty easy.
*Painting near glass? Don't bother taping- you will still get ton's of paint  on the glass no matter how good you paint. Paint like regular trying not to get an exsessive amount on the windows, but don't be shy.   Once its dry, take a staight edge razor blade and cut around the seam (to break the paint that you want off the glass from the paint the paint that you want on the wood) and then scrape the razor down the glass, like you would a spatula under a cookie. It comes off super easy and you are left with a perfectly straight edge around your window.
*When you are cleaning your paint brush take a finger nail scrub brush and rub it in the direction that the bristles go and it will get all the dried up paint htat was stuck up at the top of the brush off.
*The best thing to get paint off of your skin is shampoo. Seriously.
*If you have a surface that is going to get touched a lot, use a high gloss paint. There is more plastic in the paint and it will wipe cleaner than an egg shell or semi-gloss.
*If you are painting with a bold color, get a shade lighter than what you like. When you paint a large surface, the paint looks darker and the lighter shade will curb the effect.
*Want to get that aged look with out painting 3 different colors on something? Tint your primer to one of the colors that you want. then use your top coat,  sand it and you will get the raw wood (or base color), your primer color and you top color showing through.   

There you go, some of my best painting tips for you.

Have fun, and I would totally go with that shade of teal in your bedroom.

Are you prepared?
Cause you need to be.
You are about to read the best, most wonderful, mouth watering, fresh tasting, glorious spaghetti sauce recipe ever invented.
And yes it was invented. By me. On one summer afternoon when I had just finished pulling about 50 tomatoes from the vines in my garden and was craving some really good fresh tasing spaghetti sauce. So I looked at the back of a jar of Barilla tomato and basil spaghetti sauce (the only kind I used to buy) and winged my own version of it. It was such a hit that we ate it for 4 days in a row. By request from everyone in the family.  The only reason it wasn't 5 days in a row is because we ran out of tomatoes.It is the most frequently requested meal in my house. To be exact "Spaghetti with your sauce on it not store bought."  I made about 60 jars of it in September last year and we ran out last week.

It. Is. LOVED.

So again, I ask: Are you ready?

You may need to sit down, because it would be hard to read and write and stand at the same time. I'm all for chewing gum and walking, but add in talking...No go.

Okay, people. Here you go:

Fresh spaghetti sauce
(this recipe is for single meal, for a family of about 6)
3 small cans of plain tomato sauce
4-6 romas tomatoes (depending on size), peeld and chopped to your liking (if you want really chunky sauce- leave them big, thinner sauce chop 'em up small)
2 green onions, finely chopped
2 T olive oil
1 t. (or more if you desire) salt
1- 1 1/2 t. dried basil
1 clove garlic, pressed
Place everything in a medium sauce pan and let it simmer for about 20 minutes over medium heat. Serve over pasta with fresh (and by fresh I mean the stuff that needs to be refigerated) parmeson cheese.
Simple, yet deliscious.

TIPS:
*Just in case you don't know the easy way to peel a tomato- you boil water, put the whole tomato in there for about 1-2 minutes and then put them into cold water.  The skin will sometimes split, if not then just pierce it with a sharp knife, and then the skin peels off beautifully.  I usually take a strip right down the center all the way around and then to two ends will slide right off with  a little pressure. (Its called slipping the skin in canning terms)
*Making large quantaties for canning is very possible. Like I mentioned, I made 60 jars last year. I go buy the 10# cans of sauce and use about 12-16 tomatoes per can (adjust the  other ingedients as needed)  the sauce will need to cook a littel longer, just to make sure that it is all heated evenly.  I boil mine for about 40 minutes. But lower the heat to medium-low so it doesn't burn on the bottom of your pan and stir it a lot. Then you pour it into sterilized jars and give it a boil bath for 35  minutes for meduim jars, 50 minutes for large jars. You could also freeze it, but in the past when I have froozen tomato based products, it tends to get runnier than when I first cooked it and it doesn't taste as good as the jarred stuff. (If you want more details on canning it, message me and I will give you a tutorial)
*If your one of those people that like meat with your spaghett, (we are most definitly not) then I would cook your meat in another pan and add it when serving your pasta. Just because I have never cooked meat in a sauce and don't know what it could possiby do. Nuclear explosion, wise.
* I will not be reponsible for uncontrollable cravings for pasta. will not be liable for any weight gained due to constant consumption of this sauce. BUT I will gladly take cradit for having such a great recipe that it brings you to your knees. :)  

Now, go my people. Enjoy some fresh pasta. Then come back and tell me what you think.  

This is the waste from an entire pound of stawberries.






TIPS:
-The bigger the straw, the better- think fast food, large drink straws. Most fast food places leave their straws on the counter, so next time you are there- grab a few.
-Once the straw bends, its toast. You will have to get a new one.
-Let the strawberry build up in the straw. It makes it easier to hold without bending it and makes it a little stronger to push through the stem.
-You may have to take a couple passes for larger strawberries to ge the whole stem.



Now, go and de-stem some strawberries...the cool way.

The feeling of randomness has taken over me today. Random funny things, frustrating things, no fair things. Its a random kind of day here at the House of Payne. So I am going to share with you my random feelings.

This morning my kids got dressed (without being asked- HORRAY!!) and put shorts on. I told them that it is going to rain today and that they needed to go put pants on. They put up a fight, but after I gave them the unforgettable grit-my-teeth-and-yell-without-yelling threat they finally stomped upstairs to change into more weather appropriate attire. I yelled up there "I better not find those shorts on the floor, because they are not dirty. Put them back into your drawers." Two hours later, I finally got done with my pre-shower tasks and headed up to their room to make thier beds and found the shorts on the floor. I think they did it just to spite me.

Kenaley needed a diaper change this morning and I was only about 20 minutes away from putting her in the shower, so rather than waste a diaper I decided that she could hang out comando for a bit. She ran into me in the kitchen and did her trademark naked dance that makes me laugh no matter how many times I see it. Squating up and down she chants "I take-it, take-it, take-it!!" Take-it is Kenaleeze for naked, btw. Its adorable, trust me.  Then, the stubborn child who knows when and how to pee but refuses to go in the toilet walked over to the dogs water bowl, stood over the center and peed in it. Then proclaimed: "Mommy, I pee-peed! TAH-DAH!!" Funny, but not so cute. Couple minutes later my monkey climbed the kitchen cabinets and peed in the kitchen sink, again proclaiming "Tah-dah!" She was  then diapered.

I have to go help my friend finish moving today and I told my husband, who just finished his last final for school last night that I needed him to pick up the boys and watch them for the night. He is somehow under the impresion that me moving my friend counts as his payback for having been in night school for the past 2 years  and me putting kids to bed solo all that time (arguably one of the worst times of the day for mom's) and says to me that this is my break then. When did moving boxes up and down stairs become a break? I am baffled.

Logan just discovered that there is a Lego website that you can buy random lego pieces from, he has told me that he wants a knife, a gun and a chainsaw for his lego guys, they are only 75 cents each. They are  about the size of a newborns fingernail and he is convinced that the price is cheap. He has yet to convince his mother of such.

There is my randomness for the day.

Add your randomness in a comment below, so I don't feel so alone in my randomness.