{Funky}

I'm in a funk today. It's Friday so I should be happy but I just can't seem to get myself going today. I woke up in a fine mood. Managed to get us all out the door in a relatively timely manner today and then it all changed. While walking Emilee to school this morning, I accidentally dropped my cell phone down the sewer. Yup. Right into the mucky muck that is town sewage. I manged to laugh about it because it could have been worse. It could have been my keys and with a husband that works an hour away from home, that would not have been good.

So, still an okay morning, I decide to go weigh in at Weight Watchers even though I really just wanted to crawl into a hole because I have not been able to stay focused lately. Out of nowhere Grace decides she does not want to get in the car. She's fussing and twisting and stiffening up as I try to get her buckles on. She's screaming her head off and starts kicking the seat in front of her. And then it happened. The shoes. She kicked the shoes off. That was the last straw. I turned the car off, got her out of her seat and went back inside to put her in time out. 10 minutes later, tantrum over but now I'm in a mood.

Yesterday out of nowhere, and after I had already begun the paperwork to dissolve the Emilee Grace corporation (I really hate Murphy and his dumb laws) , I get an order. We never get orders. Rarely. When we do, it's either someone we know or someone from, say, Denmark maybe. Totally random. My first thought is "Shoot. I hope they didn't order something we don't have stock of." Of course they did. They ordered BabyLegs. 2 pairs to be exact. One pair I have in stock and the other I don't. So, I send an email asking them if they'd like a different pair PLUS an extra free pair to make up for the one I don't have. So far nothing back. Then I decided to just take the loss and order the pair they really want from someone else who has stock. I'll pay full price but at this point I don't care. I just want to ship the order. Lo and behold, the address is an APO address. Couldn't be simple could it? No idea how the order got through on my site but I tried to order from 2 different sites (BabyLegs being one of them) and neither site accepts an APO shipping address. Grrrrrrrr..............

So, here I sit. I'm cranky. My kitchen is a mess. I have my Bible study that I've neglected that needs doing and I just can't get myself going. Soon it will be lunch time and then half my day is gone. I know this feeling all too well. Chaos. Overwhelmed. Stressed. And all because I don't prioritize. I hop on the computer first when it should be the last thing I do. Had I been doing things the right way all along, would my day have gone better? Not necessarily. I may have still dropped my cell phone. Gracie may still have had a tantrum. I'd still be dealing with this crazy order. But my attitude would be different. Sunday morning in church we were reminded that we are to dwell in the secret place. That it was not a place that we should just go to visit but it's someplace that we need to live. So, I plan on moving in. I need to. I don't want to live another day as a visitor in the secret place. To some this may make no sense. To others you'll be nodding your head in agreement.

{Creative Tuesday - Mod Podge File Cabinet}

I'm linking up with Andy's Creative Tuesday over at Poppies at Play and Get Your Craft On at Today's Creative Blog and I figured this would be the perfect time to showcase my file cabinet that I Mod Podged and made over. :) I got the tutorial from Mod Podge Rocks although I didn't go to the extreme that she did (I was too lazy!), I think it came out great. :)

Here is my old, beat up, dusty-lookin file cabinet BEFORE:Holy glare from the camera!

DURING:

And AFTER:
I picked up a really cool scrapbook kit from Walmart for $5 but didn't measure my cabinet before that. The drawers are 11x13. :( So thankfully I found coordinating trim in the kit for each paper and managed to cover the whole drawer. Could not figure out how to get my lock thing-y off so I had to go around it. Not easy. I actually kind of butchered it but thankfully my cabinet was black so you can't really tell. :)

{Quick Fix 4 Your Off Centered Blog Header}

On my many many travels to various blogs here and there I've been seeing a recurring problem on many blog headers. I know that when I was figuring out all the ins and outs of blog design enough to get me by it would drive me nuts when things just didn't look right on my blog: not enough space between sidebars, my header being off-centered, borders in places that I didn't want them, etc. I imagine that I'm not the only one that is bothered by that stuff so here's a quick fix for one major blog design problem: centering the header.

I'm not sure if you can see it but the arrow on the left is pointing to a light gray border and the arrow on the right is to show you how the header is outside that border. Not good. Fixing this problem is actually pretty simple. The first thing I do is remove the border altogether. That's just a matter of preference really but since this is my blog, we'll do it my way. lol

Step 1 - Removing Border from Header

• Go to your "Layout" tab and click on "Edit HTML"
• Find this block of code:
  

#header-wrapper {
width:660px;
margin:0 auto 10px;
border:1px solid $bordercolor;
}

#header-inner {
background-position: center;
margin-left: auto;
margin-right: auto;
}

#header {
margin: 5px;
border: 1px solid $bordercolor;
text-align: center;
color:$pagetitlecolor;

Anywhere you see border: 1px in this section, change it to 0px (that's a zero, not an "oh"). That will remove the border from around the entire header.

Step 2 - Centering Header (I got this information from this blog)

• While still in "Edit HTML" mode, find this block of code:

#header img {
margin-$startSide: auto;
margin-$endSide: auto;

}

ADD THESE 2 LINES RIGHT BELOW margin-$endSide: auto;

position: relative;
 left: -25px;

So now your code should look like this:

#header img {
 margin-$startSide: auto;
 margin-$endSide: auto;
 position: relative;
 left: -25px;
}

Here's the only somewhat tricky part and by tricky I mean you may have to play around
with the numbers a bit. See where it says -25px;? You may have to adjust the numbers
less than -25 or maybe more than -25 to get it closest to the center on your
particular blog. Make sure you "PREVIEW" before you save. Wallah - you're done. :)

Hopes this helps. If you use this tutorial, please be sure to let me know by leaving me a comment. :)

{What's In The Line-Up}

I thought that once the girls were in school that I would have some time to work on all the little projects that I've found around the web lately. But so far, I'm wrong. Had to take Em out of school early on Monday for a physical then finally went back to Weight Watchers on Tuesday when Grace went to pre-k. Wednesday is always nuts because of church on Wednesday nights and then Thursday I kept Gracie home because she had a cold. Today brought us to the DR yet again so I'm wondering when I'm going to get the time to do the projects I'm dying to do?

I'm hoping next week will give me some free time to do these cool projects I've found around the web:

1. Cuddle Cubes
   
2. Fabric Pumpkins
3. Mod Podge my File Cabinet

I think I'll tackle the file cabinet first because it seems like it would be the easiest choice. The Cuddle Cubes will definitely be next and then the Fabric Pumpkins. Can't wait to get going on those and then post about them. :)

{BabyLegs WINNERS}

Thanks so much to everyone who entered the BabyLegs Giveaway. :) The 2 lucky winners are:

#15 - MandyMoo
&
#36 - Sibabe64

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

Please respond to the email I sent you with your mailing address and information. :)

{Free Behavior Chart}

Princess Emilee had an okay first day of school. Well, it was her first half day. She begins her full day Kindergarten tomorrow. When I picked her up she was crying. Her teacher told me that she was upset because a girl in her class had gotten a sticker for exceptional behavior. Emilee does not notice that 14 other kids did not get a sticker. She only noticed that she did not get one. Then her teacher proceeded to tell me that she had a hard time following instructions and listening. :( We've had this problem in the past and I used behavior charts at home to help encourage good behavior. She did really well with them.

One of my biggest flaws is that I don't really follow through with much. I've started and stopped so many things so it was no big surprise to me that the behavior charts only lasted a few weeks. Well, here's to my second attempt!

I made this chart that I'm going to print out and hang on our kitchen wall under the calendar. I also made stars that I'm going to cut out. Every day when she gets home, if she had a good day in school, I will give her a star to put up next to that day. At the end of the week, if she has 5 stars then she will get a reward. This week I think her reward is going to be Baby Dora which she has been asking for for months. I think I'm even going to put velcro next to each day and then a piece on the back of each star for easy on and off. I'm hoping to be consistent with this and I'm really hopeful that she will have a great day tomorrow. I've been doing a lot of praying about and and thank God that He is concerned about everything that we're concerned about. There is nothing too big or too small. He cares about them all.

Please feel free to click the image, download the file and print out. Please share with your readers but be sure to direct them to this post to download. :)

**Fonts by Kevin & Amanda and Digital Kit by The Shabby Princess

{BabyLegs GIVEAWAY}

Now that the weather is finally cooling off I can't help but think about one of my favorite baby products. BabyLegs. Ever hear of them? They are baby arm and leg warmers. Well, that's not entirely true. They are not just for babies. Kids up to 12 years old can wear them and I've even known a few trendy moms to wear them on their arms. They come in a variety of cool colors and patterns.

Since the summer is over and I'm feeling particularly happy about the upcoming holiday season I figured why not give away some Babylegs out of my stock.

To win a pair of the featured BabyLegs, there's a few things you need to do to enter:

• leave a comment on this post
• earn extra entries by subscribing or following The Princess Escapades
• blog about this contest

I will chose 2 winners 1 week from today. US residents only please. :)

**CONTEST IS OVER**

{Easy Wall Art 4 Kids}

**Edit: If you are visiting from Tip Junkie, please check out my creative blog The Girl Creative for more crafty ideas. :)

I am absolutely famous for buying supplies for a specific project and never getting around to it. I have purchased 2 sets of wood letters spelling out my girls name over the years with high hopes of decorating them and hanging them above their bed. Ummm, never happened. Then probably about a year or 2 ago I found these awesome chipboard letters in Joann's for a buck each. They were all different pastel colored patterns. Each one was different. Very cute. I managed to pick up letters to spell Grace and I *think* I was only able to get the E-M and I for Emilee's name (at least those are the only ones I could find at home). Anyhow, now ready to finish this project, I went back to Joann's to look for the L-E and E to finish Emilee's name and no such luck. :( Figures. Good think we call her Emi a lot so at least I could put her nickname up on the wall.

This was probably the easiest project I've done to date and it was really inexpensive.

The Supplies

• Flat thumb tacks
• Chipboard letters
  
• Chipboard shapes (flowers, hearts, anything you like)
• Hot glue gun
• Ribbon
• String, yarn or ribbon (my shapes were actually chipboard buttons so I used the yarn to make them look sewn. Leave this step out if you have solid pieces to use.)

First I took some ribbon, thread it through the letters and spaced them out according to my liking.

Then I took my yarn and "sewed" my chipboard buttons. I used a toothpick to help push the yarn through the small holes.

Next I took my hot glue gun and glued the thumb tacks to the back of each of my chipboard buttons and let them dry.

Once they were dry I took the letters to my girls room and used the now decorated thumb tacks and hung the letters above their beds on the wall.

Piece of cake! :) If you use this tutorial, I'd love to see your finished projects. :)

*Disclaimer: I have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to photography so please forgive the horrible picture quality and lighting on some of the pictures.

{Easy Wall Art 4 Kids}

I am absolutely famous for buying supplies for a specific project and never getting around to it. I have purchased 2 sets of wood letters spelling out my girls name over the years with high hopes of decorating them and hanging them above their bed. Ummm, never happened. Then probably about a year or 2 ago I found these awesome chipboard letters in Joann's for a buck each. They were all different pastel colored patterns. Each one was different. Very cute. I managed to pick up letters to spell Grace and I *think* I was only able to get the E-M and I for Emilee's name (at least those are the only ones I could find at home). Anyhow, now ready to finish this project, I went back to Joann's to look for the L-E and E to finish Emilee's name and no such luck. :( Figures. Good think we call her Emi a lot so at least I could put her nickname up on the wall.

This was probably the easiest project I've done to date and it was really inexpensive.

The Supplies

• Flat thumb tacks
• Chipboard letters
  
• Chipboard shapes (flowers, hearts, anything you like)
• Hot glue gun
• Ribbon
• String, yarn or ribbon (my shapes were actually chipboard buttons so I used the yarn to make them look sewn. Leave this step out if you have solid pieces to use.)

First I took some ribbon, thread it through the letters and spaced them out according to my liking.

Then I took my yarn and "sewed" my chipboard buttons. I used a toothpick to help push the yarn through the small holes.

Next I took my hot glue gun and glued the thumb tacks to the back of each of my chipboard buttons and let them dry.

Once they were dry I took the letters to my girls room and used the now decorated thumb tacks and hung the letters above their beds on the wall.

Piece of cake! :) If you use this tutorial, I'd love to see your finished projects. :)

*Disclaimer: I have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to photography so please forgive the horrible picture quality and lighting on some of the pictures.

{The First Day of School}

So the day has finally come. The first day of school for Emilee (kindergarten) and Gracie (preschool). They both only had to go for an hour today but they both did really well. Grace went right into the room and began playing with the toys. I was able to leave, fill out papers and come back without her even noticing. She even told me "I didn't cry". What a big girl she is. She begins her regular class on Tuesday where she'll be starting on the color purple and will be learning about creation during Bible time. Absolutely love it that she will be learning the Bible. :)

Emilee and I got to her school and found a bunch of parents and kids waiting outside. I was excited to see one of the mom's that I had become friendly with during orientation in the spring. Even more excited to find out that her son and Emilee were in the same class. Her teacher seems very nice too. I got to speak to her for a few minutes just filling her in on some of Emilee's little quirks (i.e. very chatty and sensitive). We found Emilee's locker outside in the hall and also found her name all over the classroom on different boards. She's the only one in her class with a December birthday so that should be a special time for her this year in school. Tomorrow she goes for a half day and then on Monday it's full day from here on out. Let the fun begin!

{I Thought I Was Raising Girls}

Last night Tim was working late and Gracie had taken a late nap so naturally I was dreading the night. I was pretty tired from all the laundry I managed to get done yesterday and I really just wanted to crash. Then I thought about my new friend Amy's blog and how she talks about making memories with her girls (she has 3!). Recently she blogged about how her girls were so excited about these aprons they had recieved and when she got home from the gym (exhausted and tired) at 8:30 at night they surrounded her asking her to bake with them. As tired as she was, she took her girls to the kitchen and they whipped up a quick dessert and made a fun memory. Well, clearly I had no excuse (we all know I was not at the gym working my butt off! )so I announced that we were going to have a girl's night in my bedroom including my bed, popcorn and a movie of their choice. Daddy Daycare it is. Or as Gracie calls it Daddy Aycare. She's been dropping the first letter off of a lot of words lately. She'll say ola bar when she means granola bar. She calls our favorite restaurant Ugaboo when it's really Bugaboo. Very cute.

Anyhow, about a 1/4 of the way into the movie, Gracie lets one loose. Of course Emilee had to say "eeew, who farted?" and it began. The farting, the smelling of the hinee's, the laughter. lol The 2 "princesses" were getting such a kick out of themselves. They had so much fun just carrying on and laughing. Strangely enough the room didn't even really smell .Well, maybe just a little. lol Here I thought I was raising "girls" but clearly these 2 hold their own if ever a little boy enters our family. :)

{Before & After}

No, I'm not doing before and after pictures of my almost 100 lbs weight loss. But, that's coming. Soon. (hint hint - hit that nice little subscribe button to your right so that you don't miss out on that post :)Today I'm participating in a Before & After party over at Thrifty Decor Chick. If you want in on the fun, visit TDC and grab the details. :)

Okay, so in the Spring we re-did our bathroom. And boy oh boy did it need it. We gutted the whole thing down to the studs, replaced the plumbing and created our dream bathroom. I don't think I stopped smiling the whole time I took a shower for the first time. I felt like I was on vacation.

The "Before"ShotsOur house was built in the '50's and I think the tub and floor were original. Totally gross. Wait until you see the duck tape. lol

Our horrible spackle/repair job. I have no words for this.

Ahhh, there it is. The ducktape. Lovely. We had caulked and recaulked it so many times that finally I just threw some ducktape on there until the construction work begain.

"During"

The whole job took about a month. One very. long. month.

The "After" Shots

I forgot to take a picture of the bathtub and shower area after the bathroom was completed and this was the only one I have so please ignore the unfinished window and blue painters tape on the right. (I picked up the shower curtain at Bed, Bath & Beyond if anyone is interested.)

I knew I wanted the dark fixtures but was not sure about the floor. Then on our first of many trips to Home Depot (which is where we purchased 99% of the supplies for our bathroom)with our contractor (and friend, Phil) my husband saw that chocolate brown tile and I fell in love with it. I was sold. Probably the easiest decision I had to make during the whole construction process. I never want to design another bathroom. Again. So many decisions had my head spinning. Not to mention the many 3+ hour trips to HD with the 2 little crazy princesses. I'm surprised I did not wind up in a mental hospital. lol

This used to be just a wall behind the door. We went into Princess Emilee and Princess Gracie's closet and took up about half of it to make shelves in the bathroom. They now have a small closer but we did have an extra shelf and bar put up so that each princess has their own rack for clothes.
Not shown here, we also have a towel rack under the medicine cabinet for decorative towels. I made the flower arrangements for dirt cheap. Got the vase in Michael's for a few dollars, used some old smoothe rocks for inside to keep the flowers in place and got 3 long stems/branches of flowers on sale at Michael's also. The whole thing cost me less than $10. I love a good bargain. :)

{Sunday Reflections}

We had a cool little detour on the way to church this morning. About a mile or 2 from church we saw a man walking with his Bible. I recognized him to be a homeless man that one of our church members usually brings to church. We turned the car around and just as I thought, it was Leonard. I only know his name because we asked him when he got into our car. He told us where he was coming from which was probably a good 7 miles or so. And when we made mention that that was a long way to walk to church his response was, "I go wherever the Lord gives me the strength to go". That statement made my heart happy. I'm sure we were a blessing to Leonard by picking him up but he blessed me today.

Later on in the day I received this video clip from my old Mary Kay director, Jenni. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhCF8GN8rWI It's of her 10 year old daughter leading a worship song at church this morning. I absolutely love it when I see children grow up in the ways of the Lord. As a mom, it's my responsibility to train up my children in the way they should go (Proverbs 22:6). It's been my prayer more and more these days to raise Godly children and set a Godly example to my girls. I'm so far from perfect and fleshly in many ways but my prayer is to be more like Jesus and for my girls to grow up to love the Lord with all their heart. At least my heart is in the right place. :)

Right after I listened to this video clip, it was time to put the girls to bed. Tim sat the girls down, had me find a worship song on Playlist.com and reminded them of what they learned in their Sunday school class this morning: be kind to your neighbor. Of course they were getting antsy and squirmy and acting like they had ants in their pants but when we played Jesus Lover of My Soul, we worshiped together as a family and the sweet peace and presence of God rested on us. I love these lyrics:

I love you, I need you
Though my world may fall
I'll never let you go
My Savior, My closest friend
I will worship You
Until the very end

No matter what we go through and though everything around us may seem to fall apart, as long as we hold close to Jesus, everything will be alright. I'm thankful for the Lover of My Soul today.