Snow Day on Repeat & A Pinterest Poser Challenge

"Can we stay up late and watch a movie to celebrate no school tomorrow?," the kids asked in unison last night.  Really?  Because I don't feel like celebrating anymore.

It's been one movie night after another.  We've had special snow day hot cocoa, a lot.  Middle of the day card game tournaments? Oh yeah, we've done that too, a lot.   Skating, sledding, snowball fights and more, a lot.

We've had a lot of fun.

Who says we always need a pond and skates? The ice patch in our backyard makes me crazy nervous about concussion potential and bloody lips, but when it is warm enough to go outside for more than five minutes, the kids (mine and the neighbors') love it.

But now, even though I hate to say it,  we are ready for some good old-fashioned boring routine around here.  Even the kids are a little over so much fun.

When the kids were really little one of their favorite holiday movies was Elmo Saves Christmas.  Did you ever see it?  Elmo makes a wish on a magic snow globe to have Christmas everyday.  Oh Elmo. Well if you haven't seen the movie just a head's up, a spoiler alert is coming at you.  All of Sesame Street pretty much hates Elmo because Christmas everyday sucks.  It loses all it's special-ness.  

Well that Elmo classic is pretty much telling my story right now.  This f#&*ing never ending polar vortex is sucking the special right out of snow days.

There has to be an end soon. Right?  Right?

This is just one example of how cray it gets on Sesame Street.  Buy an Easter egg for Christmas? What the hell?


If you are indeed home on another snow day with your kids and looking for something to do, here is a fun project. I got a little crafty the other day with Wade.  For this week's Pinterest Poser Challenge we made me a necklace.  And I kind of love it.

Yeah, I wear a shawl and my snow cap around the house pretty much all the time. Because well, duh Polar Vortex?

*In an attempt at not being a Pinterest Poser,** every week I  detail a new Pinterest challenge whether it be a new recipe or a craft.   

**My definition of a Pinterest Poser is someone who is all pins and no substance.**

First of all, here's the recipe for the  gluten free baking clay. (Which is also the best alternative to PlayDough we've found that is gluten free.  To use as PlayDough just don't bake it, keep it in a sealed container and it lasts for months.)

Homemade Gluten Free Clay Recipe:
(We used this recipe to make DIY ornaments this past Christmas.) 2 cups of gluten free flour
1 cup of salt
2 Tbsp. of vegetable oil
1 cup of water

Directions:
Mix the flour and salt together.
Add the oil and then slowly add the water until it forms a clay consistency.

After you make the shapes/beads/ornaments put them on a cookie sheet and bake.
Bake in 250 degree oven for 20 minutes.
(Some sites suggested brushing egg yolk on the shapes before baking, we didn't do that for this project.)

We rolled the clay into shapes that Wade and I thought would look good on a necklace.  Then we poked a pencil through the middle for the hole. I would suggest the hole be pretty big because when the clay bakes it puffs up a bit.

After the clay baked and cooled off, Wade painted.

After the paint dried, I put a string through the beads and wore it.

It's not perfect, but you know I'm not a really big fan of perfect.  

I think this would be a cute party project-- make the beads ahead of time, let the kids choose their beads and paint, then string them and take their new necklaces home as a party favor.  Cute!

Have you made anything from Pinterest lately?  Any major successes or flops?  Share below in the comments or over on my Facebook page.


Here are some of the projects I've attempted--the good and the bad:

Dixie Cup Lights- click here

DIY Ornaments-click here

Gluten Free Clay- click here

Make Your Own Stamps- click here
Birthday Shirt- click here
Gluten Free Pop Tarts- click here
Front Porch Kid Art Display- click here
Door turned into Table- click here

Summer Wish List Chalkboard-click here

Peanut Butter Nutella Cookie Sandwiches-click here

Painted Mason Jar Vases-click here

Cinco de Mayo Paper Flowers- click here

Earth Day Cupcakes- Click here

Nail Art-click here

Homemade Photo Booth Fun- click here

Fake Bangs- click here

DIY Subway Art- click here

Furniture Painting and Bench/Chest Makeover- click here

Thanksgiving-y Project/Gratitude/Holiday Countdown- click here
The Smoothie-click here

The Free Printable Turned Artwork in a Boring Hallway- click here

The chalk board-click here
Seven Layer Dip in Individual Cups (my favorite so far!)-click here
The pumpkin address-click here
The Kitchen Dancing Sign--click here

  Head on over and follow my Pinterest boards.

Oh yeah, and come follow me on Twitter @AngelaYBlood and subscribe to my MomPulse YouTube channel here.

What Day Is It, What I Know For Sure & #iPPP

What do I know for sure? Jesus, I don't know.  I don't even know what day it is.  I'm all kinds of confused.  

My kids went back to school yesterday after being home from school since December 19th.  I should be doing a dance in my kitchen.  I should be rejoicing.  But instead I feel all mopey and sad.  I don't like the quiet.  I miss them.  What the hell?   I mean seriously, what the hell?  Who am I?  Damn you Polar Vortex, you are really f&*king with me.  

(I know I just broke my own rule about not mentioning the overused Polar Vortex after the kids went back to school, but I promise I won't say it again.)


My kids had a real blast playing with each other, the last week especially. (Click here to watch some of our week.) Hockey games, card games, writing stories, reading aloud to each other, singing the songs from the Frozen soundtrack over and over and over.  It wasn't all perfect.  There were moments when I needed to separate them.  There were moments when I literally had to sacrifice my personal safety and step into the middle of a "tackle" game to break it up before someone got a concussion or a black eye.  I had more than one long talk about having compassion for each other and forgiving one another. 

There was all that, sure.  But there was more spontaneous acts of getting along than I could ever have imagined.  

Yeah, that's the baby pool in the background. They turned it into a pretty sweet fort/snowball fight perch thank you very much.  Which means I can justify not putting it away for the season, right?

Playing our new favorite game 5 Crowns and sipping warm cocoa.  

They got all suited up and took their ice-patch-in-the-backyard hockey game pretty seriously.
I had to run outside on a couple occasions when I heard one scream excitedly "hockey fight!"  

I'm sure next week, life will be a little more back to normal, well as normal as we get anyway.  But I guess what I know for sure this week, right now, is that I love being with my kids and I love watching them love each other.

Here's what else I know for sure this week:

• Four is a really fun age.  Wade is getting cuter & saying a lot of funny stuff.  And just imagine everything he says with the most adorable Cindy-Brady-style lisp. Oh my God! I love it.  You know, when he's not tackling people.

I call this his Macklamore look.  He was playing dress up with Lucy and that's my rabbit coat circa 1981. Yup. I don't know where he's getting the teenage girl duck face from though.

He's so proud. He's all "my work here is done."

• My kids loved the movie Akeelah & the Bee.  We found it on Netflix and it's about spelling bees.  And it's just fabulous.  Even the 4-year-old got into it.  Got Netflix? Got kids? Don't have kids? Check out this movie.  No violence.  A couple swear words.  Great message.

• It's official, Wade can now rack up overdue fines at the library like the rest of the family.  He is a card holder as of yesterday.  All kidding aside (I'm not kidding we all have late fees, we are incapable of turning in books on time), Wade was so excited about getting his card.  So cute.

• What do Nirvana, Adele and Eminem have in common with me?  Um, a stage.  Yeah, that's right we booked the venue for Listen To Your Mother (LTYM) Metro Detroit and it has a pretty amazing history.  On May 4, the show I'm co-producing happens on the same stage that so many artists have been on.  I get chills thinking about it.  Click here to find out more about LTYM Metro Detroit.

• I am sad that SoapNet the channel doesn't exist anymore.

• Writing makes me happy.  Even when it's about sad stuff.  I am so excited that I got to share a story on Mamalode because I love them.  

• I love red wine and I cannot lie.  I am trying to be healthier in 2014.  I stopped eating mostly during the day.  But I refuse to stop having a few glasses of red wine a night week.

• I will be unavailable to talk about anything but award show buzz on Sunday evening.  I didn't even see many/any of the nominated movies, but I love Tina and Amy so much and they are hosting the Golden Globes.  Come play with me on Twitter during the show-@AngelaYBlood.

What do you know for sure (this week)?  C'mon, we're friends, share what you know. 

Leave a comment here or on my Facebook page or on Twitter.

Please come play with me on Instagram @jumpingwithmyfingerscrossed. 

I'm linking up today with my friends Greta from  Gfunkified.com and Robin from FarewellStranger.com for the #iPPP link up.  They host a link up where they encourage people to share "your funny, your yummy, your heartfelt, your favorite photos of the week" from our phones.