Sea Glass!

Some things are in my shop already, some are going in over the next few days and some won't ever make it to my shop, like the Mermaid Tail. Click the link to the right to see what's there!  Thanks!

DIY Photos on Canvas

Ahh Pinterest, the things you make us do!

As I've stated before, we almost lost our house a few years ago so there is still next to nothing on the walls and no real rhyme or reason to anything.  

Thanks to Pinterest, that is all changing!  LOL

My newest project is taking photos & attaching them on canvas. 

Step 1:  Get the canvas.  AC Moore had a 10 pack of 8x10's for $20 and I had a 50% off coupon so they were just $1 each.  I'm already ahead of the game because I have Mod Podge & Black paint.  

Cover your work area!

Step 2:  Paint the edges of your canvas frame.  I also painted about an inch in on the front of the canvas so I didn't have to worry if the picture didn't go all the way to the edges.

Once it dries, put on a 2nd coat. 

 Step 3: Affix the photos.

Cover the front of the canvas with Mod Podge & put the picture on it. You should smooth out the picture at this point. I turned them over on a clean paper towel and smoothed it from the back.

Let them dry.

STep 4: Once they were dry I covered the front with Mod Podge.  It can give it a textured finished like it was a real canvas. 

Let them dry

Step 5: Hang!

I had NO idea how I was going to arrange them so I used 8x10 pieces of paper & taped them to the wall in different ways until I was satisfied.

Here is the finished look!

OK Technically it's not a finished project, I need to get more canvas - I have more pictures to print!

I am very happy with the way this looks!

Please teach your children

How to use the BLEEPING PHONE.

The very first time I heard one of my kids call someone else's house and basically have NO CLUE how to ask for someone or to remember to say THANK YOU and GOODBYE I totally realized I forgot how to teach them how to use the phone.

But this was 8+ years ago, when the oldest was 6ish!

As I mentioned below I got a spiffy new car that has built in handsfree blue tooth.  The downside to it is it does not show me who is calling, just the number, and let's be honest, who knows anyone's number anymore?

It looked like my nephews number so I answered it.

*side note here: we turned off our house phone recently so this call would have normally would not have happened*

I press that button on my steering wheel and answer it all cheerily "hello"

male voice: umm hello

silence

me "helllo?"

silence

male voice: Umm I tried to call your house number but it said it was disconnected

me "who is this?" (it wasn't my nephew)

Now I'm not going to exactly say who it was, but it was one of my older sons friends who I've known since they were in first grade. They've been at each others houses a ton of times and there is NO reason for him to by shy or awkward around me.

But the conversation was like pulling teeth!  Finally he got to why he was calling me and not my son.

Am I old fashion thinking they should know the proper or at least customary way to speak to someone?

Is it a lost art by not having a house phone anymore? Kids just call each other - no reason to go through a parent.  And everyone has each others numbers in their phones so they know automatically who is going to be there when they answer the phone.

(this also makes crank calling near impossible dammit LOL)

Is there going to a class some day on phone manners because of this?

I'd love to teach it LOL

Did you know I'm the meanest mom ever :D  Whenever I offer to homeschool the kids run & hide LOL

 I should see if that blog name is taken LOL

These Slogger boots are made for walking

on the beach!

Ok so I've been doing the beach writings for 2.5 years, I guess I should start investing in my business. Or at least in things that make my life easier. My Beach Writing & Sea Glass Store

So I told TheJerseyShoreDad that I needed a pair of waterproof boots.  I told him I didn't care what they looked like, they just needed to be waterproof.  Sometimes the waves still get me, so I needed a little protection.  Hip-waders would have been a bit of overkill! LOL

The boots he got me were fine, very useful.. but they were too big so they had to go back.

Since he ordered them from Amazon I figured I'd just find a replacement there.

At first I checked out Nomad rain boots.  Lots of cute patterns, but the description said water resistant, not water proof. I need waterproof.  I'm not going to be running for the bus in the rain, I'm getting hit by ocean waves!

Sloggers rain boots claimed to be water PROOF so I ordered these.

They fit well, little snug where my feet are wide, but they're rubber so they stretch.  

I wore them today to the beach to try them out!  It was low tide so normally I would not get caught by a wave, so I had to go IN the water.

Remember, it's JANUARY.  While the air temp was in the 40's, the water is too!

EEP!

(I don't normally tuck my jeans in my boots)

brrrr (they're not insulated, just rubber)

So what's the verdict?

My feet were DRY!  Cold, but DRY!  Woo hoo!!

I Love my Boots!

Oh and do you know who left their Tonka Toys on the beach?

I have a teenager, therefore I am always wrong

Even when it's not my doing, it's my fault.

This does NOT fly well with me.

Someone tell me how long this lasts because my adorable older son acting a girl about to get her first period is getting OLD, FAST.

I love him dearly, but one of us may not make it through his teenaged years.

I shared this with some fellow mom's of 14 year olds.

Do they ever learn? The kids are in charge of cleaning the kitchen after dinner. Older son is in charge of washing the pots and pans and has been doing a really lazy job. I told him that I was giving him 1 more chance and if I found dirty pots & pans in the dish drainer he was cleaning the whole kitchen by himself for 30 days. 

Yesterday I found a greasy pan, but the rest were 100x better than he had been doing. I told him that since he had done so well on the others that I was giving him a warning and that he was doing the whole kitchen for just 1 night... and then he gave me attitude... so he got his 30 days.

Umm what else. Made him take a shower the morning after he got all sweaty at a dance. He actually stomped up the stairs.  He's almost 5ft 9 and built like a linebacker... that's a lot of noise!

The Jersey Shore Dad went food shopping and took the boys with him, male bonding I called it, they brought home ice cream but it was too late to eat it.

Meanest mom ever! Someone call the cops!

Tonight it was the reminder that he had a bathroom to clean - his job, always his job, not a news flash.  OMG drama drama drama.

I diffused him with this though,

Oh and while his little brother has promised me he won't be a bratty teenager like his brother, I'm already seeing signs.

Might have freak them out & start taking pictures of their Xbox..... and computer....

So what car did I get?

We ended up leasing a 2013 Mettalic Blue Chevy Traverse!

In my last post I said I wasn't sure about leasing but we did it anyway.  We did it for 2 reasons.  The space & the money.

While the Equinox provided the leg room our growing teens would need, it was more narrow than my Journey.  I couldn't imagine having to drive somewhere in the back seat with the kids if my dad was in the car with us.

It turns out that the monthly payments work out to be the same if we bought the Equinox or leased the Traverse.

And to be honest, while I am FAR from a princess, my track record shows I don't keep a car more then 4 years anyway. I think once I had a car for 5 years.  But ever since my first new car a fully loaded 1991  Ford Escort GT, I've never not had a car payment, so why not lease?

(not my actual car, not sure if i have a picture of mine)

My Traverse is not fully loaded, I'd say it's about 1/3 loaded LOL. Oh I should mention it's a v6 not a 4 cylinder like everything else! But I think my favorite feature is the handsfree bluetooth.  Phone rings, I touch a button & answer it. Of course it's on speaker phone so no private conversations if anyone else is in the car, but it's pretty cool.  TJSD came home the next day and said he had a bit of buyers remorse because "we'll have nothing at the end." I told him too bad, I already programmed the hands free dialing LOL

It has a 3rd row of seating too.  This was not something in particular that I wanted, but the kids LOVE it.  Last night we went out, one sat in the middle row, one in the back.  While the boys love each other, a little space is good.  They also figured out last night that the car has dual zone temperature control!

One downside, it has a hard downshift. Known issue, but I'll take it because it's a V6. I know they want to have better gas mileage on cars, but offering a 4 cylinder in a larger car just isn't right.  Have you ever driven on a Jersey highway?  No room for a large car without some Giddy up!

So now you need to go to my shop

www.beachwritingsnj.com

and order lots of beach writings & necklaces & such so I can continue to pay for my pretty new car!  LOL 

Happy New Year! & I want a new car!

First off let me say Happy New Year to all of you!  I'm going to be pushing to network more in 2013 and get me & my business out there. Selling online is great, but making connections is great too!

I'm not one to go out on NYE.  The last time we did, we encountered too many drunks in our short drive home.  I don't understand the mentality of drinking and then thinking you can handle a car, but that's a topic for another day.

So instead TheJerseyShoreDad & I went car shopping.

While technically there is nothing wrong with my 2009 Dodge Journey, I never really liked it.  Plus it had a major flaw in the design. It's what they call a cross over, I call it a small station wagon.  Anyway, they built it on a truck chasis but gave is car brakes, so I had to replace the brake pads & rotors at 20,000 miles.  That sucked big time.  And it's never been right since.  Now it's approaching 60,000 miles and it's out of warranty and it's at the point where we're going to have to put money into it.

I don't want to.

I'm not one to pay off a car & drive it into the ground.  If I felt more secure about the economy I might consider leasing a car.

So on NYE afternoon we packed up the kids (ok they're 14 & 11, they pack themselves) and wandered down to Route 37 in Toms River to see what we could see.

First off, the Kia dealership.  Cute place, no stock.  All the stock in at another lot.  Ok that's fine, but they didn't even have an "example" of each new car on the lot.  Nevermind...

Then to the Hyundai Dealership which is also the Chevy dealership. The lots are huge & no one ever really came out to talk to us (it was very busy) so we wandered from one dealership to another & ended up really liking the Chevy Equinox.  After waiting a bit and almost leaving, we got to test drive it.

I have just 2 demands. well, it's 1 but broken up into two areas. It had to have space.  Our 14 year old son is already 5ft 8 and with TJSD being 6ft 2, I suspect that both kids will be at or near 6ft by the time I'm done with this car, so it needs room for their legs in the back.  And I need enough cargo space for a craft table a few totes.

Oh and the price should be around $25,000 for us to keep our payments under $350.

While I like the crossovers, it doesn't have to be one, but it can not be a van of any sort.

The Equinox fit both requirements for space, but we could not come to an agreement on price. And in a little retrospect, they were not very forward with the price of the car, just the payments.  Never even really discussed the rate of the loan either.

I hate car shopping, and was done at this point, plus it was 5pm and we needed food.

We stopped for dinner on the way home.  We were going to go to Outback because we have some gift cards,but they had a 3 HOUR WAIT.  Oh Hell No.

We happen to be passing Rivolis in Toms River so we stopped in there and they had a table for us!  Rivolis is REALLY good.  A bit on the expensive side, BUT you get a ton of food.  Think platter size dishes.  Did I mention the food is REALLY good?

We are there for a few minutes when my 14 yo son says to me "mom, the cast of the Jersey Shore is here."  I don't even look up from the menu and reply "no they're not"

He goes on "No mom, I mean it, look"

I look up and see this:

I nearly choked on my diet coke. There are no words, just no words.