2 Sisters 2gether...

Quick Post: Sad News

2010-06-05T14:31:00.004-06:00

I second that that we are missing our bloggy family. Have not had time to craft of blog. But wanted to share some sad news and ask for prayers. A squad mate of my brother in law was killed in the line of duty last week. Please pray his family and his squadmates and the safety of the people that are protecting us. Here is one of the links to the story and about the funeral.
http://www.azcentral.com/community/phoenix/articles/2010/05/27/20100527phoenix-police-officer-killed-mourned.html
http://www.azcentral.com/community/phoenix/articles/2010/06/01/20100601phoenix-officer-funeral.html

Just a Quick Hello & A Tip (Teri)

2010-06-03T23:46:00.002-06:00

We have been so far out of the blogging loop lately that I almost forgot our password! We are missing all of you and wish we were better at keeping up. During May and through the summer we are reminded often of those brave men and women serving our country in the Armed Forces. I stumbled on this on one of my friends blogs, and thought I would share it. Did you know you can share your expired coupons with overseas military families? You can mail them to them and they can use them up to 6 months after they expire. How cool is that!?! Here's the post with more info. If anyone has any actual experience with this, please share, we'd love to hear about it.

Happy Mother's Day!

2010-05-08T22:04:00.001-06:00

I have been feeling sorry for myself a lot lately because I haven't been able to make time to do the things that I want to (including blog). I ran acrossed this video on a friends blog and it really touched me, so I want to share it with you. My trials are nothing and yet my faith is so shakey. I hope this video touches you the way it did me. I am so grateful that I have been blessed to be a mother and I pray I can find the joy in it the way this courageous woman has. Teri

Birthday Prezzie

2010-05-07T07:00:00.002-06:00

Hey remember me? If not, I’m Teri the older of the 2 sisters (hey those are a long 4 minutes). I just thought that I would throw that in there since it’s been not weeks, but months since I blogged. It’s been a little crazy around here, with a trip to visit Micki in March and a birthday in the family in March and 3 family birthdays in April. A layoff for my hubby last month and subsequently my return to full time work (I have been part time for the last almost 2 years). That’s my life in a nutshell. So, on to the fun stuff!!!

For our birthday Micki made me a very cute prezzie (not to mention the other gifts she showered me with). I promised her I would blog about it, because she forgot to take pictures of it before she mailed it to me. So here is the darling bag she made for me for our birthday!

Isn’t it darling?!? Plus unless your name is the same as me you won’t be able to steal it (or maybe she thought we were getting so old that I might need to remember what my name is).

See the inside is a cute as the outside and see how much it can hold (and yes those are graham crackers and there is frosting in the fridge to go with them).

And I won’t even lose my cell phone or keys!

Now don’t you all wish that Micki was your twin sister too?

The Shield (Micki)

2010-04-19T12:06:00.004-06:00

My daughter had an end of the year project and she wanted to make a Roman shield. She wanted to make it out of wood even thought the ancient ones were made out of metal. Then my dad had the brilliant idea fo making it out of the sattelite dish he had just put in the garbage (thanks dad). Shhhhhh.....don't tell Direct TV or Dish Network or whoever. We thought it was a great idea. We googled images of shields and she picked the one she wanted to do. Her dad spray painted the blue part and then she hand painted the other colors. She did a really good job. I was so proud of her. Then I used some E6000 to glue the straps on the back. We loved it. She got an A on the project. However she got marked down for using metal.....WHATEVER. lol

Hair Flowers (Micki)

2010-04-12T00:01:00.002-06:00

When Teri was here for craft day and her daughters birthday we wanted to make her daughter some flowers to go in her hair. My daughter wouldn't be caught dead with something as girly as that (she is a tom boy). I had learned how to make them at a church activty. They are super easy. Here is a tutorial I found since we forgot to take pictures of the steps. Instead of sewing ours together we just stuck a scrapbooking brad through the center and used hot glue to glue them on aligator clips. Here's our finished products. The green ones in the middle are the leaves off some of the flowers. Our mom came up with that idea. Thanks mom....they are supere cute!!

Cupcake fix (Micki)

2010-04-08T22:11:00.006-06:00

So I had to make cupcakes for my daughter for a fundraiser at church. I am still recovering from a field trip yesterday and didn't want to go to the store to get anything. So I had most of the supplies and two yellow cake mixes. How boring. So I wanted to spice things up a bit so to speak and used peanut butter instead of the regular butter in the Golden Butter cake mix. They turned out yummy!! Kind of a weird after taste but good. I think I should have reduced cook time a bit because they are a little dry. But we topped them off with chocolate frosting and sprinkles.

Then on the second batch I beat the batter too much because my butter was a little hard (used regular butter this time so I could have 2 different flavors) and my cupcakes fell. :( I so didn't want to make another batch......
So I improvised with extra frosting in the center. lol Hope everyone likes frosting. My daughter loves basketball so thats why we made basketballs. Nothing better than a little (or a lot) of homemade buttercream frosting.....right Ter? (She hates frosting, how does anyone hate frosting?)

The best part is I made her clean up. :)

Guest Day Thursday: Hot Lunch Tip

2010-04-01T08:09:00.004-06:00

We are so excited to have be able to share a great tip with you today (I know, don't faint, we have posted something 2 days in a row, but today's was pretty much a cheat since all we had to do was copy and paste. Hey! What do ya know it's even Thursday today, so I guess we can still call it Guest Day Thursday, hehehe). While blogstalking Teri ran onto this tip and thought it was such a great idea, she asked Don immediately if he would share it with you! He agreed, and so enjoy his great tip for homemade "hot" lunches!

Hi, I'm Don Carey, a full-time software engineer, part-time author, and over-time husband and father. I want to thank the 2 Sisters for inviting me to be a guest on this blog. I'm excited to share our handy little trick for sending hot lunches from home to school and work.

Both of our girls have food allergies, so when our oldest started kindergarten nearly eight years ago, we thought it would be best to send lunches from home. Not wanting to go the soggy sandwich on stale bread route, we came up with a system for sending hot lunches, and it has served us well.

The first thing I do in the morning is boil water in the teapot. Today's lunch menu is tortellini soup, so I also started some water in a second pot.

Once the water in the teapot boils, I pour it into our trusty little thermoses - one for each of the girls. There's usually one for me, too - no need to make lunch twice. But today I decided to pass on the tortellini soup in favor of left-over pizza in the fridge. Yum!

While the boiling water heats the thermoses, I make breakfast and heat lunch - either on the stove, or in our handy little toaster oven. This is also when I nag the sleepyheads.

Yum! Tortellini!

Now mix in the soup.

I empty the water and fill the thermoses with hot food. We usually try to plan our dinners so there are leftovers to use in lunches. Soup, stew, chili, and pasta dishes all work great. We've had mixed results with nuggets and burritos - they stay warm, but tend to get soggy.

Casseroles all work very well. Except for tuna casserole, which is never good. Ick! Yuck! Blech!

I then pack the thermos in an insulated lunch box with the sides, snacks, utensils, and a bottle of water. Today's menu includes goldfish, grapes, a granola bar, and bunny-shaped sugar cookies, just in case you were wondering.

All in 30 minutes or less. My only fear with this method is that one day I'll accidentally forget to fill the thermoses and send my children to school with nothing but hot water for lunch. But so far, so good.

My youngest still asks for hot lunch at school once in a while as a treat, but the 7th grader insists I pack her lunch every day so she doesn't have to wait in the long cafeteria lines. And she insists the food is better, too.

The Craft Day Spring Bracelet

2010-03-31T19:23:00.002-06:00

Remember our darling Christmas bracelet we made at our last craft day. Well here is our spring one. It is so so so cute!!! Isn't my mother-in-law so talented. She once again made all the beads by hand for 21 bracelets. WOW!!

Blogging Blues

2010-03-17T23:37:00.002-06:00

Okay we admit it....we can't keep up. We can't keep up with everything. It has obviously gotten overwhelming for us to post every weekday, so we aren't going to unless we have time. No more daily themes for the time being, we are only going to post what and when we can. Don't worry, our craft day projects are still to come. We are still rounding up pictures of all the different things, so you can see how many different faces one craft can have. Thank you for all of your support and we hope you hang around and see where this ride carries us!

Tadpole Tuesday: Mod Podge Picture Plaques Micki

2010-03-16T00:01:00.002-06:00

The kids and I were looking for a simple project. I took them to Michaels and let them pick out a cheapo wooden plaque and a paint color. And here is what we created.

First, saran wrap the table (a must in crafting in our world):
Mom lays out the paint, brushes, bowls for the paint and the plaque:

The kids do a fantastic job painting the plaques:

Then you let the paint dry:

While it's drying you pick your matching scrapbook paper from moms stash:

You rip up the paper and mod podge the pieces on:

Then mod podge your picture on and viola:

We had a good time doing them and now they have pictures in their rooms. :)

Mystery Monday: Answer to Tulip Palooza (Micki)

2010-03-15T08:20:00.003-06:00

Remember when we posted about tulip palooza here. We finally are going to reveal the answer. We couldn't do it before because it was a craft day project. We made this beautiful tulip wreath. It looks so cute on my door. It's so big and beautiful. I have never had any spring decorations so I was excited.

Here it was on my door:
We got some beautiful butterflys from Michaels:
And some bumblebees too:

Weekend Surprise: Craft Day

2010-03-12T08:58:00.009-07:00

Yesterday was craft day at Laurel's. It's our second one. If you don't remember or weren't reading you can read about our first one here. It was so much fun!! We always have a blast and learn a lot about how to make the next one even better. We made lots of cute stuff of course. Tried new things. And just had fun. And ate of course. Micki's two aunts-in-law came down from Utah and were a huge help getting ready. We couldn't have done it without them!!! And our mom got to come to this one (since she lives by Micki now)!! Of course Teri drove the eight hours down for the occassion (but this time she planned on staying a few days instead of a few hours). Mom didn't think she would get her stuff done but she did and helped us!!! Here is some picture (only sneek peeks though cuz we are going to feature the crafts)

Who thought sewing with this many people was a good idea? But just wait until you see the cute project!!!

Teri and Mom

Are you jealous we could craft outside?

Smile...you *ARE* having fun!

Only part of the herd....

Yummy homemade lasagna! Thanks Laurel!!!

Takin' a lunch break...

More outdoor crafts...just to taunt you....sorry!

Who says you have to move the crafts while setting up the buffet?

2sisters 2gether!

Mom & Laurel....Micki's other mom.

This project was Teri's test!

*CHEESE*

Laurel (right) and her sister Kay (who was enjoying not being in the snow).

We can't wait to get some of the projects posted. We have missed all you guys and can't wait to get our craft on again!!!

Mystery Monday: Produce Palooza (Teri)

2010-03-08T00:01:00.000-07:00

One of the nurses at work told me about this local co-op called Bountiful Baskets. For $15 you can get a produce basket full of grocery store/restaurant quality produce. I’m not talking a puny basket here….there was one small laundry basket of veges and one of fruit. There is a $3 sign up fee, but after that, it’s just $15 each time you order. You don’t have to order every week (some places it’s only available every other week), you can order however many times you want. I ordered this week for the first time, it took me a bit to understand it, but I figured it out eventually. Every time you order you make a $15 “contribution” and you’re good to go. They also ask that you volunteer to help sort the produce when it arrives whenever you can.

They also have different other things you can order each time, since it was my first time, I only ordered the basket. They had a special Mexican produce basket this time, as well as tortillas, bread and sweet bread. When we picked up our stuff, I was really sad I hadn’t ordered the tortillas, they looked wonderful.

Take a look at what we received:

Here’s the breakdown:

1 basketball sized head of leaf lettuce (gigantic)

1 large cabbage

2 bundles of spinach

2 bundles of asparagus

6 small cucumbers

6 small zucchini

5 concorde pears

1 box strawberries

2 boxes blueberries

16 tangelos

9 small braeburn apples

9 bananas

How’d we make out? I was so excited to see what we received! It's always a surprise what you get, they try to do seasonal things when available. I would recommend this to anyone. There are locations all over Utah as well as Arizona, Nevada, Idaho and Washington. We are so excited!!!

The mystery: Has anyone else participated in a local co-op? How did you like it? How did it work?

Anyone Interested?

2010-03-06T20:13:00.001-07:00

We are looking for guests to feature on our Guest Day Thursdays or Tales of a Shared Womb. We would love to feature you. Just leave us a comment or shoot us an email if you are interested.

Feature Friday: A Book Review (Teri)

2010-03-05T00:15:00.004-07:00

Percy Jackson 5C Prepack by Rick Riordan

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
For any of you out there who have pre-teen or teenage children (or for anyone who, like me, loves to read a really fun book), I would highly recommend this series. The first book Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Theif has been made into a movie that is currently in theaters. What started me reading these was taking my kids to see the movie. I enjoyed it so much, and my daughter already had the books and had read and loved them, so I picked up the first one and was instantly sucked into Percy Jackson's world of demigods and monsters. Okay, I'll admit, I AM easily entertained, as anyone who knows me will tell you. You have to take any recommendation from me with a grain of salt. I have had friends tell me that I like everything I read, and I do like ALMOST everything I read. There is a simple reason for that, I don't read genres that I know I don't like. I don't read horror, spy novels, murder mysteries, graphically sexual books, books with a lot of swearing (if I start one that has a lot of swearing, I don't finish it). I'm sure there are other genres out there that I don't read, but you get the idea. Call me a prude, closed minded, whatever you like, but I love that I lead a somewhat sheltered life, and I don't need my mind clouded with images and ideas that don't fit my morals. Whew! Who put that soap box there...I didn't mean to get on it. Anywho, I was saying, I LOVE these books. They are highly entertaining, imaginative, educational (at least for me, I know little to nothing about Greek mythology), clean, and just plain fun to read. I wouldn't hesistate to recommend them to anyone, because they are just good reading. They are not free of sadness and death, but they do encompass the ever constant battle of good and evil, in a way that is engaging and entertaining. I hope you will let me know if you read these books, as I would love to know what you think.

View all my reviews >>

Just a quick note to let you know, we will hopefully be posting a Tales of A Shared Womb next week, Micki had a funeral (her grandfather-in-law) to attend, so we weren't able to get anything up this week. Micki - tell your family my heart is with them, wish I could be there to support all of them (and you). Love ya!!!

Guest Day Thursday: Crafty Sisters

2010-03-04T00:01:00.004-07:00

We would like to welcome our guests today. They have a great blog called Crafty Sisters where they feature all kinds of really fun tutorials, projects, copy cat projects and power tool reviews (and pretty unique pets too).
Take it away ladies!

Hi, we're Nicole and Candace from Crafty Sisters!

We are so excited to guest post on 2 Sisters today!

Thanks so much for inviting us!

We are both lucky enough to be Stay at Home Moms.

Candace has four wonderful crazy little boys

and Nicole has a beautiful fun energectic little girl.

Our Husbands=NOT handy...so we became handy ourselves.

We love to decorate our homes- especially for the Holidays!

Here are a few of our latest Easter projects.

Even though it's a month away, we couldn't help but start early.

We love getting together and making things.

We are pretty fearless when it comes to using all sorts of power tools!

We love to revamp furniture. There's nothing like taking an ugly thrift store find and making it beautiful again. We have tried making some good knock-offs too!

We love to dabble in a lot of different things from crafty fluff with felt, sewing and fabrics to our

projects with wood and furniture redo's.

We consider ourselves "die-hard" Crafters!:)

While Candace is busy with her furniture renovations,

Nicole is busy with her little wood craft business that she sells on Etsy and teaches classes locally.

We love learning and sharing what we do.

It makes us happy and we hope that we inspire too!

Thanks so much for inviting us over and allowing us to share a little bit of ourselves.

Thanks Teri and Micki!!

THANKS LADIES!!!

What’s Cookin’ Wednesday: Homemade Twix (Teri)

2010-03-03T00:01:00.001-07:00

I found this yummy recipe on one of our followers blogs and HAD to make it. Click here to go to that original post (and see how much prettier hers are).

Homemade Twix Bars

Crust:
2 1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. sugar
1 c. butter; room temp
Caramel:
1 c. butter
1 c. brown sugar
4 Tbsp. corn syrup
1 c. sweetened condensed milk
Crumble crust ingredients together. Pack into 13x9 inch pan that has been sprayed, lined with foil and sprayed again. Bake on 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.
Combine caramel ingredients in a heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Boil 5 minutes, stirring constantly as it burns easily. Remove from heat. Stir with spoon slowly until it shows signs of thickening. Pour over crust and let cool a little.
Top layer:

Melt approximately 2 c. chocolate chips with 2 tbsp. shortening over low heat or in the microwave. Pour over caramel layer and spread carefully. (I didn’t have quite enough chocolate chips, so I just sprinkled them on the caramel and let them melt then spread them out with a spatula) Chill. Cut into bars.

Tadpole Tuesday: Seamless Gift (Teri)

2010-03-02T07:09:00.002-07:00

My darling daughter loves to create with fabric. She has made Barbie clothes ribbon and fabric as well as out of toilet paper.I need to get her involved in 4H or something, but I digress. For her brother’s birthday she wanted to make him something, she had learned at Activity Days how to tie a fleece blanket, so she decided she wanted to do that. She raided my fabric stash, and found some fabric with sports balls on it, perfect for my son! I didn’t have the heart to tell her (especially after I yelled at her for using my fabric without permission), that because the fabric was flannel (some yardage that was destined to be pj pants that never happened), it would fray and not stand up to well in the wash. She was so proud of this project, that after I apologized for being momzilla, that I just complimented her on it. She really did do a great job, her ties are pretty even and tied well, I just wish it was out of fleece. So far it is doing fine, but it’s only a month old, and hasn’t been washed yet. Maybe she has developed a new type of rag quilt, who knows. Only time will tell, but I AM proud of her ingenuity, and it didn’t take her much time at all.

She also made a darling pillow sham for my nephew the same way, but somehow the pictures got deleted and it’s already been given. If I can get a picture at a later date, I will post it.

Mystery Monday: Blogger P’s and Q’s

2010-03-01T00:11:00.002-07:00

We are finally back (hopefully) for the long haul. We just had a lot of catching up to do at home, and not projects were getting done to speak of, so there was nothing to post. We are glad to be back in the saddle again, it feels good!

Okay, how many of you are old enough that you have been told to mind your p’s & q’s. We certainly have. Our grandma (that we miss a lot) and our mom both have told us that. (On a side note: do you know how that saying came about? In the “olden days” in a pub when they would get rowdy they would be told to mind their pints and quarts, thus p’s and q’s) Well, we want to know if there is any such think as blogger etiquette?

We have set some standards for ourselves, but that’s about it. There are no hard and fast rules for blogger etiquette that we know of, so we are asking you to share with us.

The couple of “rules” we have set for ourselves are these. Be polite, if you don’t agree with something, or you don’t like a project someone has posted, just mind your mom and “when you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all”. We wouldn’t want someone posting hurtful things on our blog, so we aren’t going to post them on yours. If we do disagree with you, and we leave a comment, know that we NEVER mean to hurt feelings, EVER. Secondly, if we join a bloggy party, it’s to network with other bloggers, and see what else is out there. Therefore, if we join a party, we only do so if we have time to visit at least 3 of the links and COMMENT on them, thus if we don’t leave a comment we visit another link. We feel that if we don’t have time right then to do this, we wait to join or don’t join at all. The last thing you will never see on this blog is swear words or vulgarity. If you do find something we believe offensive, we are sorry, that’s who we are. But, we will never offend your eyeballs with abbreviations or slang for swear words (ie. texting lingo), or with any vulgar thoughts. If you find anything like that on this blog, please let us know, we want to fix it. Last but not least, if you follow us or comment, we try to return the favor. Okay, so we don’t follow everyone who follows us….maybe that’s a “rule” we don’t know about, but anyway. If you follow us, we try to link to a blog you may have through your profile, and visit some of your posts and comment. If you comment, same thing, we try and visit your blog and comment. We have missed some of you, so if you have a blog and we haven’t commented on it, we probably don’t know about it, leave us a link in the comments section or email it to us at 2sisters2gether@gmail.com and we will be sure to visit.

That’s our version of blogger etiquette, what’s yours? We want to know how to improve our relations with other bloggers and enjoy our stay here in bloggerville!

2010-02-22T08:33:00.001-07:00

We just wanted to let you know we are still here, but that we are taking another week off. We have had technical difficulties with Teri's computer and both have overloaded schedules this week. We are missing all of you, but need to regroup. Thanks for understanding!

Guest Day Thursday: Teri from Mama Thompson

2010-02-18T00:01:00.000-07:00

2 sisters 2gether welcomes….

Hi...I'm Teri...(not this Teri:)...Mama Thompson Teri...and I am very excited to be guest posting here at 2sisters 2gether...I just love these girls and all the great stuff they do

(and not just because one of them is a Teri...although that can't hurt right?).

I'm a stay at home mama to one adorably cute and way too smart almost 3 year-old. I have been blogging for the past couple of years documenting the life of my cute Lil D (Life as a Thompson)...but decided back in September that I needed a place to document all the things that I love to do.

And thus began Mama Thompson.

I love trying new things...I love anything I can create with my own 2 hands...but what I LOVE most...is the satisfaction of seeing something and then making or doing it on my own. Whether it's a new recipe, a craft or decor for my home, a piece of jewelry or a total room makeover...I want to try it. Mama Thompson is the person that I strive to be...a better mom, wife, and homemaker...a "Mama" in every sense of the word.

If you feel the need to head on over to my neck of the woods (which I hear is just a few hours north of 1 of these sisters),

you will find...

"All the things I do in a day...well...when the (almost) 3 year-old let's me"

Jewelry

I also have an etsy shop, T's ETC

(I can make a shameless plug here right?:)

Furniture makeovers

Decor for Lil D

Decor for the home and holidays

What we eat (a variety of recipes)

and my favorite thing to do when I get the chance,

crafts

currently though...I'm doing lots of room makeovers...

(I am redoing 80% of my home from the basement up)

So that's me...just a mama...who likes to do well...

stuff!

Isn’t she great? We love to visit her blog (and it isn’t even because she has a great name). You need to be sure to read about the month she didn’t eat out AT ALL, her play makeup for little girls, and her darling version of the oh so popular ornament wreath. Thanks Teri for guesting here today (and shameless plugs are just fine here).

2010-02-16T09:16:00.002-07:00

We interrupt the regularly scheduled program to announce that we are going to be absent from the blog this week. Our parents moved over 800 miles last week to where Micki lives, Micki works every day this week, and Teri is sick with a cold. Please excuse our absence with the exception of a guest post we already have scheduled and ready for Thursday. We will miss you all terribly, and hope to return to the regularly scheduled programming next week!

Winner!!!

2010-02-15T15:25:00.002-07:00

Our winner picked in the most scientific of fashions....by having our Mom pick a number is Aimee from Heart Strings and Prescious Things! She picked option #4 a custom make cupcake tier. Aimee we'll be in contact to make arrangements for your prize! Thanks for everyone who entered, we appreciate your continued support. Look for another giveaway coming up when we hit the 100 follower mark!

2010-02-15T09:00:00.000-07:00

The winner of our 100th post giveaway to be announced later today!

Twilight What Have You Done To My Wife

2010-02-13T00:01:00.000-07:00

Okay, admittedly we are both big Twilight fans. While admitting this, we have both at times been prone to losing sleep because we have been sucked into a book (not just the Twilight books). We just had to share this video with you. It is so funny. We promise you will be laughing, whether it is with disgust or hilarity we can’t promise.

TWILIGHT WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH MY WIFE by Shallow Day.

Click the link above to learn more about the band. Their music is great, and their story is inspirational in what two of the band members had to overcome in order to just play music.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Condolences

2010-02-12T16:22:00.003-07:00

We here at 2sisters would like to share our heartfelt condolences to the loved ones of luger Nomar Kumaritashvili who died as a result of a crash during a practice run this morning in Vancouver. Our hearts and prayers go out that they may be comforted and that there will be no more accidents during these Olympic Games.

Feature Friday Part Deux: Teri’s Valentine Door Decor

2010-02-12T13:00:00.005-07:00

This is one of two, yes count them, two Valentine decorations in my home. The other one I posted about here. I had a lot of fun making this though. I again used the *cringe* pages from my old reading book. This is a project that I just used stuff I had on hand with the exception of I bought a small bottle of blue acrylic paint. I picked up the wooden letters at a sidewalk sale at Ben Franklin during the summer, with this kind of project in mind. The letters cost me 25 cents each, what a steal! My favorite funny thing about this project is that the O’s started out life as Q’s, and Mr. H. did some plastic surgery on them for me. What do ya think? Didn’t she turn out cute? (And yes, I really do have depressing dark brown doors, all I can say is *rental*).

I was so excited…..my Mod Podged paper didn’t bubble at all!!! My very first Mod Podge project that didn’t bubble at all. It was a bit of a challenge to get the extra paper sanded off the edges of the X’s because I couldn’t get my sanding block in there, I ended up using a emery board for most of it. Here’s a close up of how the letters look.

(okay, so maybe they bubbled a little, but hardly at all). I just wanted to do something that wasn’t traditional Valentine colors, and I am pleased with this project.

Linked to: Frugalicious Friday @ Finding Fabulous; Craft Party @ Crafts In Bloom; Get Your Craft on Thursday @ Life as Lori; Weekend Wrap-Up Party @ Tatertots and Jello

Feature Friday: Micki's Valentine tier

2010-02-12T10:14:00.008-07:00

I finally got a day off work after working 6 twelve hour shifts in a row, so I needed to do something fun. My friend Rozanna came over to help me make cupcake tiers. Well in the middle of it we ran out of epoxy. When we stoppted at Wally's to get some more she found these:

They are the melamine plates and plastic cups (total per tier it cost us about $5). So we stuck them together.

And voila teacher gifts!!!

Unfortunately hot glue doesn't work well to stick them together I found out. Mine met and early demise when I was trying to put it together while we were out running errands. The top 2 fell off. So my dh stopped and got me super glue and it didn't dry. I am not sure what I did wrong. So I don't have a picture of the finished product. I ended up just wrapping up the small teddy bear and the candy in the cello wrap and just giving them to the teacher. R*I*P!

THANKS FOR THE IDEA ROZ!!!

Linked to:

Get Your Craft On Thursday @ Life as Lori; Craft Party @ Crafts In Bloom; Frugalicious Friday @ Finding Fabulous; Weekend Wrap-Up Party @ Tatertots and Jello

2010-02-11T00:02:00.000-07:00

Don't forget to enter our first ever giveaway.....go here!

Guest Day Thursday: Kathy from Creative Home Expressions

2010-02-11T00:01:00.001-07:00

Our guest blogger today is Kathy from Creative Home Expressions. She is and interior designer by trade and a blogger extraordinaire! She has had a couple of snow days lately (we don’t even know what those are here), and has been able to work on a couple of projects (lucky her). Here she is today to share a fun project with our readers! Thank you so much Kathy!!!

I’m thrilled to be a guest blogger at 2Sisters 2gether! Thank you Teri and Micki! In keeping with a project that is also home decor related, I thought I’d share a quick coaster project.

I had purchased this package of six coasters at Michaels from their $1.00 bins thinking that I could use them in another way {which I did, but that’s for another upcoming post}. They are labeled as “paper coasters”, but are cardboard. I had one left that I didn’t use.

I bought these napkins at TJ Maxx {or Marshalls ~ one of the two} with my first name initial.

Since I have reset myself up at the desk in our living room {another future post}, I realized I needed a coaster for my coffee while I’m reading so many awe-inspiring blogs in the morning. Actually, hubby said, “you should put something under your cup so it’s not right on the desk”. Sheesh!

So I took my extra coaster and one of my “K” napkins; and a little Mod Podge, and set to work to make myself a pretty coaster.

These napkins are smaller than the white ones with the monogram in black, like the one I did here on a plate, so they didn’t fit the full round of the coaster.

I added some scrap book paper first as a base, then cut out the “K” with some of the design to fit on top of that. You are only using the top layer of the napkin, so you’ll need to be careful. I just put Mod Podge on the coaster base and applied the napkin right on top. When that was dry, I put a coat of Mod Podge over the whole thing.

Then, once everything was dry, I sprayed it with some polyurethane spray for protection.

Now I have a coaster for my coffee cup that matches my living room and hubby doesn’t have to turn into me and “suggest” I put something under my cup!

Teri has a Diet Coke that totally needs this! Thanks again Kathy! (Can you believe this is her first guest post?).

2010-02-10T07:25:00.001-07:00

Don't forget to enter our first ever giveaway here!

What’s Cookin’ Wednesday: Easy Chocolate Pudding Cake (Teri)

2010-02-10T07:23:00.002-07:00

My hubby decided he wanted to make this for our Super Bowl Feast. It was delicious. There were two definite plusses for me: 1-hubby made it, not me; 2- it was made in the crock pot! How cool is that!?! Who knew you could bake in a crock pot, certainly not me. Doesn’t it look yummy? It was! All that pudding goodness in the middle!

The recipe is from Crock-Pot Recipe Collection.

1 pkg (6 serving size) instant chocolate pudding and pie filling mix

3 cups milk

1 package (about 18 oz) chocolate fudge cake mix, plus ingredients to prepare mix

Crushed peppermint candies (optional)

Whipped topping or ice cream (optional – but ice cream is recommended by me anyway)

1-Coat 4 1/2 quart Crock-Pot slow cooker with nonstick cooking spray. Place pudding mix in Crock-Pot slow cooker. Whisk in milk.

2-Prepare cake mix according to package directions. Carefully pour cake mix into Crock-Pot slow cooker. Do not stir. Cover; cook on High 1 to 1 1/2 hours our until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean (note: don’t stick it all the way down or you will just get pudding).

3-Spoon into cup or onto plate; serve warm with crushed peppermint candies and whipped topping or ice cream if desired. Tip: let cool at least 5 minutes before removing from Crock-Pot slow cooker.

(just fyi I don’t have a Crock-Pot brand slow cooker, I just copied the recipe verbatim, so take it for what it’s worth)

2010-02-09T10:38:00.001-07:00

Don't forget to enter our giveaway! Just leave us a comment which one you want and that you are a follower!

Tadpole Tuesday: Valentine Cards (Teri)

2010-02-09T10:05:00.008-07:00

While we were “watching” the Superbowl on Sunday we pulled out stuff we had at home to make some Valentine cards to send to our out of town family (that would be all of our family). We used everything we had on hand with the exception of buying a package of cards to decorate. This whole project to make 20 cards for my son’s class, 10 for my daughter’s friends, and 15 to send away cost us less than $3 because we had everything else on hand.

This is one made by my son, he wanted a picture of a ship from the old reading book I was using. He’s still little, but he loves to be creative.

This one was made by my daughter, she was very much into making unique cards this year (and about using her paper trimmer). My daughter had a good eye for different ways to put things together. She had a lot of fun slicing up the paper for the front of this card.

I wanted to include more of my kids cards, but I wasn’t up to editing their names out of the pictures (and of course I didn't think to take a picture BEFORE they signed their cards). Trust me though, they were darling!

Here are my three favorite cards that I made using an old reading book and some aged sheet music.

No this picture isn’t sideways, I put a piece of the pronunciation guide from the back of the reading book on sideways on purpose. (I keep telling myself it’s okay to tear this already falling apart book up to use creatively, but I’m telling you it goes against every fiber of my being. I am a true book lover, and it feels like murder to tear and cut pieces of a book). I love the way that the “onion skin copy paper” curls up around the edges of the book page.

It’s a toss up between this one and the next one which is my favorite. I thought that the title of this song was perfect! I loved that I was able to turn the card so that the lines go diagonal down it, I covered the front and back of this card.

I loved the picture on this card. I also loved the texture I was able to add with the ric rack and the fabric patch letters. It was also fun to use the juxtaposition of the misspelled letters on top of the page from the reading book! I know, it’s silly, but I am easily entertained.

Linked to:

Talented Tuesday @ My Frugal Family; Market Yourself Monday @ Sumo's Sweet Stuff; Met Monday @ BNOTP; Show and Tell @ Blue Cricket Design; Get Your Craft On @ Today's Creative Blog; Craft Party @ Crafts In Bloom; Frugalicious Friday @ Finding Fabulous; Get Your Craft on Thursaday @ Live as Lori; Weekend Wrap-Up Party @ Tatertots and Jello

Mystery Monday: Coupon Organization (Teri)

2010-02-08T08:21:00.005-07:00

If any of you visited us clear back in October, you may remember this post, where I talked about saving money on groceries. If not, go back and read it, see if any of the tips would work for you, or if you have any more for us. Today I’m going to share with you how I organize my coupons.

In this post I shared with you that I use a website called Pinching Your Pennies to help find the “deals”. There are many sites out there to help you know where to find the best deal on things you buy, but I like this one the best for a couple of reasons, first off, it’s FREE and who doesn’t like that price. Secondly, they have teamed with Grocery Smarts to make a customizable printable grocery list of deals. With this system I also get multiple Sunday papers, thus getting multiple sets of ads (I get 3). This requires that I organize them so that I can find them. Thus my coupon crate.

I know you are wondering why you would need an entire crate to organize your coupons. The reason being is because I don’t clip them, at least not until I’m ready to use them. The way the PYP website works is that it tells you what is on sale, how good of a deal it is, and where to find the coupon you need for this item. I save my coupons for 5 months (If you count, you’ll know I don’t have 5 months worth, my dh threw about 3 weeks worth away because they were causing clutter….I could have throttled him), then I toss them, by this point they will all be expired. As you can see I have multiple categories.

Everything behind the Smart Source tab is that type of insert, ditto for Red Plum, General Mills and Proctor and Gamble, these are your “brands” of inserts. I also use printed coupons, and I print the ones I will use when I see them, and them I save them for when I need them. If you want a good tutorial about how to use your coupons, how to read the website, etc, go to the Utah Forum on PYP and they have some great tutorials (not sure if the other states do or not, but the same general principles that apply in Utah will apply elsewhere as well). It’s great for beginners (and seasoned couponers as well). Each week of coupons is put in it’s own sheet protector to make it easy to pull out all 3 inserts together.

I write the date the insert came in sharpie on the upper right hand corner of each insert so that I easily spot what weeks coupons I’m looking at.

After I have made up my shopping list and printed it out, I clip/print the coupons I need and fold them inside the list and put them in an envelope to take with me. It may not be a perfect solution, but it works for me (I pretty much copied my friends organization, so it’s not even an original idea……THANKS SUNNIE!!!) If you want more tips on saving on your groceries, click here to take you to my post from October.

I also have folders for restaurants, stores and services (things in here range from Children’s Place % off coupons to ones for oil changes), and one for clipped coupons which doesn’t have anything in it right now.

So I guess today’s mystery is:

Do you have a coupon organization system that works for you?

Linked to:

Favorites Linky Party @ They Byrd Nest; Frugalicious Friday @ Finding Fabulous

100th Post Giveaway (closed)

2010-02-07T13:25:00.004-07:00

We have had so much fun writing this blog and interacting with all you out there in bloggy land, that we decided to have our very first giveaway. It’s to celebrate our 100th post. Now, it’s not something big or exciting, but it is from us, made with love. You have your choice of the following cupcake tiers:

Your fourth option is something custom with a color of your choice, but this may take a while, as I will have to find the dishes in that color. Glasses are difficult to find in colors for a reasonable price, so it will still probably have to be clear glasses.

Here’s how the giveaway works. Requirement #1 you have to be a follower of our blog, #2 you have to leave a comment on this post telling us which tier you would like (so tell us in your one comment that you are a follower and which tier you would like). Pretty simple. We will leave this open until next Sunday (Valentine’s Day) and then we will use an uberscientific method to choose who wins (we’ll have our mom pick a number). There you go! Thanks for taking the time to stop by our blog, it’s awesome to hear from you.

Sharing the Bloggy Love

2010-02-07T12:43:00.004-07:00

As we promised, we are passing along the award we received from the Misty at Six Divided by Two. This award was given to blogs who “think outside the box and cherish individuality”. We believe the following blogs do, so without further delay, here is who we have decided to pass the love to.

Amanda at Serenity Now….A Mommy’s Solution to Staying Sane for always making us laugh and for blogging in her unique style because it’s her “serenity/sanity” not because she’s here to impress us (although she does).

Teri at Mama Thompson for finding new and different twists on some of the “trendy” decor trends out there. And for not being afraid to talk about who she is and what she believes (and because she has a great name that is spelled the RIGHT way). (also, look for a guest post from her soon)

Lastly (but not leastly) to Sara at Cupcake Muffin for having such unique recipes and new twists on old favorites. Take a gander to see what we’re talking about.

We hope you visit these lovely ladies and see what we’re talking about. Don’t be afraid to tell ‘em we sent ya, because we want them to know we love what they’re doing!

Amanda, Teri and Sara, feel free to pass the love along. Let others know how much you appreciate them putting themselves out there.

Tales of a Shared Womb: Honored Guests!

2010-02-05T00:01:00.000-07:00

It certainly is an exciting week here at 2sisters! We have gotten an award (incidentally we received it from the two lovely ladies you are about to meet), posted our 100th post, and now we are having our second guest blogger (okay really second and third)!

We are beyond excited to welcome our guest bloggers today, we will let them introduce themselves. We love to read both their blogs, and hope you will enjoy them as well!

Hello and Howdy !!!

Let us begin by saying that is a complete honor to be guest bloggers!!

We are Angelique and Misty and we are identical twin sisters.

Angelique is the proud blogger of Six in One Hand

and

Misty is the bloggy diva of Six Divided By Two

known together as the Six Sisters.

Angelique: " Why do I just get to be a proud blogger and you the diva? No mam.."

Misty : I said PROUD blogger....

This is us all the time..

We love being twins . Would not change it for anything but we know the downside and (always) funny side of being a twin. So we thought it would be funny to share with you what we call,

"The Six Perils of Being a Twin"

1.Your children do not know who is who.

Angelique: " A common phrase in our family is, " I am not your mother.."

Misty: " So true. Once when my oldest was small she came up to me at church and said, " Hi Angelique!"

Angelique: " Do you remember when our kids were small? We would press our faces together and they would cry because they could not tell who was who..!"

2. Jilted Boyfriends!!

Misty: (laughing so hard she is in tears) Oh yes.. I almost forgot! The guy I never called back..

Angelique: I will never forget it!! He came up to me in the grocery store ranting about why you never called.

I told him I was your twin and he got mad. " Don't give me the old I have a twin routine!"

After I showed him my driver's license he apologized.

Misty: Never did call him back lol!!!

3. The infamous affairs

Misty: Whoa Baby!! I thought I was going to have to get a divorce behind that one!! My husband and I go out to dinner one night. He had been out of town for a few days. The waiter comes over and is telling me how busy of a woman I must be. He tells my husband that I was there last night with another man! OK I am pissed! I swear up and down it's not true - because it was NOT!!

Angelique: I had to explain to my brother in law that I had been on a date at that restaurant the night before!!

Misty: I wanted to kill that waiter. I had no idea what he was talking about!! We laughed about it later but I was not amused.

Angelique: That is why we always told each other where the other was going to be or had been. lol

4. Girlfriends you know nothing about

Misty: How many times has this happened? But the best one was your friend screaming,"Angelique !!" from the third level of the mall. Mind you I am on the first level. That would have been okay but even after I told her I was your sister she was screaming her conversation and phone number from the third level

Angelique: Yes, I know. I have mastered the art of playing you and never saying the person's name!!

5. Being accused of abandoning your newborn at the hospital!!

Angelique: I still can't believe that one!! The nurses thought you were me when Alex was born.

Misty: They personally escorted me to your room... I was waiting to see the looks on their faces!! All I wanted was a soda.

6. The Questions

Misty: What is the question that you get asked the most?

Angelique: "Where is your sister?"

Misty: "Who is the good twin and who is the bad twin?" or mean vs. nice-

Angelique: " How many minutes are you apart?

Misty: That's my fav. Do you always rank strangers this on a regular basis? I'm just wondering....

Angelique: "If I hit you will your sister feel it?"

Misty: No, but you will if you hit my sister. Once again, back to that rank strangers thing.

But there are sooo many things that we love about being twins..

The bond that we share is uncanny. Being a twin, to be so close to a person, is truly a gift from God. A friendship/sisterhood that could never be broken or explained.

Thank you so much girls, we can totally relate to so many of those things. We have gotten good at either playing each other, in fact we answer to each others names more often than to our own. It makes it hazardous when you work with someone with your sister's name. We long ago decided though, that Micki IS the evil twin (she even has a shirt that says "I am the evil twin". It's all good.

Being a twin is truly a gift from God. We don't know how we would ever survive without each other. One cannot truly understand the bond that you share as a twin unless you are one, it's just impossible.

Guest Day Thursday: Fabulous Jane

2010-02-04T00:01:00.003-07:00

We would like you all to give a warm welcome to our guest host today! Her name is Jane and she is FABULOUS!

She is hosting our 100th post!!!

Yes ladies and gentlemen....this is our 100th post!!!

Take it away Jane!

Hey guys, Jane here from Finding Fabulous! That's me above with kid 1 & 2 who are just the very center of my universe! Okay, I'm pretty fond of the white furry guy too! I'm so excited to be guest hosting over at 2 Sisters 2Gether, they are so fun...I just love all their fabulous crafty projects and yummy recipes too!

Well my blog Finding Fabulous pretty much describes itself. I'm all about finding fabulous design...on a budget, for less, without breakin' the bank! Yup, no need to spend a ton of money if your looking to spruce up your home. Here's a peek at some of my projects:

Here's my Wrought Iron moulding project above our bed! For this project I framed out the wrought iron wall hanging with simple trim moulding. And talk about thrifty...the iron piece was just $25 and the moulding under $10. And for under $40, I've got a big focal point with some much needed heighth and drama to an otherwise simple bed!

Did you know you can buy Wine Crates at Total Wine for about $5 each? Yup, just 5 bucks! I gave my crates an aged appearance by staining them. Super easy, super fun and aren't they fabulous for above hutches and armoires?

Do you need new picture frames? Do not, I repeat, do not go out and buy new ones! Go find some old ones (either from your attic or your local Thrift Store) and spray paint them. Here I used Rustoleum's Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint for the frame on the far right. I confess, I love ORB spray paint...this stuff rocks!

Here are a pair of antique chairs that have been in my husband's family for at least 100 years. They used to be covered in leather and were in bad shape. I recovered them in this fun fabric I found at Garden Ridge for just $5.99 for two yards.

Okay, I have a confession...I'm not real Crafty, but more of a roll up your sleeves Diy kinda gal. But every now and then I pull it off. Here's my twine wrapped wine bottle. I got this idea from the Thrifty Decor Chic, but used a large wine bottle as the base. This project was super easy, super fun and you can't get any thriftier than making home accessories with items from your recycling bin!

And finally here's my thrifty home office! Instead of going with a bulky, overpriced executive desk (those babies go for 2 thousand dollars or more!). I chose to use a dining room table instead from World Market! The price was right, I loved the clean lines, and the desktop work space was HUGE! Oh and those fabulous botanical prints were FREE! Yup, free from an on-line website called Vintage Printables!

Okay, so there you have it, Finding Fabulous in a nutshell! I hope you like my projects and feel inspired to go revamp something in your home! It doesn't take a lot of money, or even any talent, just a "think outside the box" mindset, and a little creativity!

Oh and be sure to check out my day Frugalicious Friday! This day's all about sharing your fabulous, thriftiest, most frugalicious home decor finds and design projects! And give us the scoop on how you $ave!

Thanks again to the 2 Sisters for allowing me to be a guest host today...you crafty girls rock!

Thanks so much Jane! We love her blog, always full of fun decor items that don't break the bank. We love to link up to Frugalicious Friday, it's so fun to see all the money saving items and projects out there!

Keep yours eyes peeled ladies and gentlemen.....we have a surprise planned to celebrate our 100th post!

What's Cookin Wednesday: Mini Meatloaves a healthier alternative (Micki)

2010-02-03T00:01:00.002-07:00

I make these tasty little treats for myself when my family has meatloaf.
Ingredients:
A little over 2.5 lbs of 97/3% lean hamburger
12 grissini breadsticks crushed
salt
pepper
minced garlic
dehydrated onions

First: Place all ingredients in mixing bowl
Second: Mix together with hands

Roll into muffin sized balls and bake at 375-400 for about 45 mins:

Combine together with a nice salad and a sliced apple for a tasty dinner

Total calories for the entire meal is about 325 plus dressing. It's very yummy and filling too!!
The meatloaf ball is about 200 calories.

Celebration!!! Woohoo!!!!

2010-02-02T11:26:00.006-07:00

There was much screaming and dancing going on when we found out we got a bloggy award!!! It was given to us by (as we call) them the Six girls :) (sorry to lump you two together, but.....). Misty @ Six Divided by Two and Angelique at Six In One Hand Madness In The Other bestowed upon us the first ever Not A Stepford Blog award! What an honor! We love both these girls blogs and are beyone thrilled and humbled to receive an award from them. Thanks girls!!! You guys rock!!! (p.s. This is our first award:)

p.s. (again) We will be passing this along, we just haven't decided how to narrow it down yet. We'll let you know :)

Tadpole Tuesday: Birdhouses (Teri)

2010-02-02T00:01:00.000-07:00

Apparently my family has a bird affinity lately. Our city has an annual winter bird festival. It has bird watching walks and a couple of activities for kids. Home Depot always sponsors a free activity where the kids can make their own birdhouses. We did this last year, and it was really fun! They also received a recycled bottle that had been turned into a birdfeeder (you saw last years here). It was a chilly morning, but really fun. Here are some highlights.

I love this picture because it was my attempt to pose my kids and them just wanting to be who they are. I think they’re pretty dang cute! Apparently I didn’t get a great picture of the finished product. My cute daughter decided that she had enough bird houses and feeders at home, so she gave hers both to my nephew for his birthday. He was excited to get something his cousin made!

Have any of you taken your kids to Home Depot for their Kids Workshops or Lowe’s for their Build and Grow Workshops? My kids love them, and the best part? They’re free! It’s so much fun. They each do them once or twice a month. If you call your local store or go online, you can sign your kids up for the next one. My kids have done some really fun projects.

Mystery Monday: What IS That? (Teri)

2010-02-01T00:01:00.000-07:00

If you read this post, you know I have some crazy round things outside on my bird feeder station. I promised you that I would reveal what they are today. So, today’s mystery is what the heck IS that round thing on the bird feeing station? Here’s a close up picture that hopefully you might get a better view of what they are (there are 4 of them hanging up, one from each arm).

They are natural bird feeders that my husband and kids made. My husband sliced up a spaghetti squash that we hadn’t eaten, they then spread chunky peanut butter on it and stuck bird food and oatmeal to them. The birds have eaten some of it. They are just hung up with wire. It was a fun project and we like having a variety of things to feed the birds, so we can attract different birds. Here are a couple of little House Finches that were visiting us (the male is the one with red, see him checking out the girl?).

Do any of you have birdfeeders? What kind of birds do you attract? Have you made any “natural” birdfeeders?

Tales of a Shared Womb: A Guest

2010-01-29T08:37:00.004-07:00

Today we have a guest for Tales of a Shared Womb! Rozanna is one of our friends, and we asked her to share her story! We hope you enjoy her guest post.

Hi everyone! My name is Rozanna and I am not a twin but I am mother of (almost) 14 year old identical twin girls "A" and "B". Let me start by answering all of the questions right off the bat..... No they were not fertility treatment babies, I was 17 when they were conceived. Yes they are identical. Yes I had them naturally and not cesarean section. NO I don't have any identical twins in my family, fraternal yes, identical no. There are twins on my husband side but we don't know if they were identical or not. And finally yes, for the most part I can tell them apart and always have.

Lets just start with the basics here for starters. When they were born we kept baby “A”’s bracelet on from the hospital until she was about 6 weeks so everyone else could tell them apart. After she out grew her bracelet we had her ears pierced so we could tell them apart. We did try to paint her toes but It was very hard in pics to tell them apart and their toes were not visible. They did everything at the same time, teethed at the same time, got sick at the same time, even potty trained at the same time. They have always had this weird twin language that none of us understood. For instance, they would be sitting at the table eating their food and one would eat all the meat and the other all the potatoes and jabber some language and switch plates. Or while playing with a toy they would jabber something and both go off and pick up the same thing.

When they were getting their exams for their braces the orthodontist was completely shocked that they had the exact same mouths! The same craniofacial measurements, the same odd shaped tooth, and were missing the same adult teeth! At each and every dental appt, if they have cavities they have the same ones in the same teeth! Twin "B" has always been the sicker of the two with asthma and many nights was rushed to the er for steroids and breathing treatments. Whenever we had to go in the middle of the night “A” got to stay with grandma and as soon as they would give “B” steroids, instead of her getting wild and crazy like expected, her sister would at home with Grandma. Or when one acted sick and would pull on her ear we would take them to the Dr. Most of the time the twin that was symptomatic wasn't the one that was sick, the other one was!

Since they have been in school it has been brought to my attention many times (at the beginning of the year) that some teachers thought a little cheating was going on. They would have essay tests where they could pick the topic and both many times picked the same topic and wrote essays very similar to each other. Or would have a math test and miss the same answers. After the teachers got to know then and their "twiness" we haven't had any nasty grams about cheating but I am sure next year when they start High school they will start again.

We did have two cribs when they were born, bunk beds as they were small kids and now they each have their own rooms, but they still slept together. And by sleep together I don't mean in the same room, imagine two teenagers sleeping head to feet together in a twin sized day bed. I don't know how they get any sleep but they sure do!

Now that they are older they don't have twin language anymore but they do speak to each other telepathically (I swear)! For instance, this summer we were all outside (which is hard to do where we live) sweating our you know whats off when one of them out of no where started singing jingle bells. They just looked at each other and started cracking up! Everyone around them were very confused as to what was so funny when they told us that one of them was thinking about the song and the other one started singing it! They also constantly are finishing each other's sentences and talking at the same time.

Teri asked me a few questions so here we go...

How did you feel when you found out you were having twins?

Let me just say shocked! Like I said before I was 17 when I got pregnant which was a shock to my family in itself. I had lost so much weight from being sick no one at school really believed I was pregnant. My mom and I prayed so hard for a girl since I only had 2 brothers. We went in for my regular ultrasound at 20 weeks and when they put the us on my stomach my mom said "look at your twins!" We both started laughing and my Dr said "your right!" I said "Shut up that is not funny!!" He said he would never joke about something like that and showed me both of their heads. I just started crying and said just please tell me they are girls! My husband (who was in the room and we were broken up at that time) almost passed out and his mom was just in complete shock also! I just had gotten used to the idea of having one baby and now found out I was having 2! Big shocker!!

What is your favorite thing about having twins?

I never had a sister and even though my brothers and I are very close it is still not the same as having a sister so I would say that seeing the relationship between them is my favorite thing. It is a relationship that not everyone can understand.

What is the most difficult thing about having twins?

Honestly they were my first kids and they were so easy going that it was hard but I really had nothing to compare it too! I would say overall though The hardest thing is that we have two more children, another girl age 7 and a boy almost 5. The girls have each other and are very close so I think sometimes they pick on their sister and brother. The reason we actually went for baby #4 was not to try for a boy (as most people think), but because I wanted Hannah (My 7 year old) to have a sibling close to her age that she could grow up with since we waited 7 years between the twins and her. Also they would never betray each other which is a good thing but sometimes I worry that they would keep secrets from me that I need to know about just because they are so close.

Thanks so much Roz! We are laughing about the sleeping together part, because we totally did that. We each had our own room, and one of us had a full sized bed, so that’s where we always slept, clear up until Teri got married and left the house. We agree with you, unless you are a twin or have a close personal relationship with them (like being their mom), you can’t don’t fully realized how closely connected they are! How did you like hearing about other twins? We are looking forward to more guests soon!

Guest Day Thursday: Mr. H’s Birdfeeder (Teri)

2010-01-28T00:01:00.000-07:00

My darling husband, Mr. H., loves to watch birds and we have had a couple of birdfeeders hanging up in the backyard that my kids made from recycled water bottles. We live in a rented condo and so he wanted something fun to watch out our kitchen window (looking out the back window, I’m sure you can see why). He found the plans for this bird-feeding station in Nature’s Garden Magazine. He added a suet feeder and a hummingbird feeder so we can attract different kids of birds.

Here’s the view from my back window:

Here’s a little friend I was able to catch from my back window. He’s a House Finch.

Want to know what those weird round things are, come back on Monday and find out.

What’s Cookin’ Wednesday: Cupcake Tiers (Teri)

2010-01-27T00:01:00.010-07:00

So, no recipe today, instead a fun way to display a scrumptious dessert like this one we posted last week, or some cute cupcakes. You can also use it as a display piece for just about anything you want. Here is my inspiration piece, my friend made it and gave it to me for Christmas (thanks Deni!!!). I used it as a centerpiece on my table with Christmas ornaments from the dollar store embellishing it.

I know you’ve seen these all over the blogosphere, but I have to tell you I think I’m addicted to buying pieces for and making these. I have made six so far, and am not ready to stop (be forewarned if you are my friend, you might get one of these for your birthday, I’m just saying). So here are a couple of my favorites, I had a hard time taking pictures because of lighting in my house and my camera battery being dead (so I was using a camera I wasn’t familiar with).

I love the pretty scalloped edges on both these plates, but especially the top one. I also love the white “milk glass?” cups, I thought the all white was perfect. I think this one is going to have to stay at my house.

Here is is all covered with yummy cake bon bons, but you can see the detail at the plate edges better in this picture.

I found the top plate at one of my local thrifts and bought it to go with another plate, but it looked to perfect as the third tier with the embossed detail on the other plates that it just had to be triple tiered (I left a bottom glass off this one so that it wouldn’t be too tall to store)

This is the one I wrapped up and gave to my darling friend Anna for her birthday. Robin’s egg blue is her favorite color, so I totally scored with this one.

The tutorial for these is pretty easy. Pick out plates and glasses you think look good together. I then used Locktite epoxy to stick the pieces together. Here’s a couple of tips that my friend who made mine gave me. First, when applying the epoxy to your glass, hold the side you are applying it to down and apply it, otherwise the epoxy will run up the glass and you will see it. Also, if your plate or glass or work surface isn’t 100% level, once applied your glass might slide, if so hold in place for a few seconds and once the epoxy starts to set up you shouldn’t have a problem. I attached the glasses to each plate, then waited about 5 or 10 minutes for it to start to cure and attached them to each other (I then let them sit undisturbed for 24 hours to fully cure). Esay peasy! (Sorry for the novel, but I didn’t even show you all of the ones I’ve made).

My favorite part about these, the price!!! Even including the cost of the epoxy none of these cost me more than $5! I picked up all glasses and most of my plates at the local thrift stores (the rest of the plates I got at either Ross or Home Goods on clearance). The epoxy I bought at Walmart and Home Depot. I washed everything in the dishwasher before I started, then hand washed them again before I put any food on them.

We are joining the following linky parties (links will become active when parties start):

Met Monday at BNOTP

Motivated Monday at Shimmer & Tulle

Market Yourself at Sumo's Sweet Stuff

Get Your Craft on at Today's Creative Blog

Frugalicious Friday at Finding Fabulous

Make Your Monday at Twice Remembered

Talented Tuesday at My Frugal Family

DIY Day at ASPTL

Remodelaholics Anonymous

Craft Club at Crafts In Bloom

Tadpole Tuesday: Pictures for Mom (Micki)

2010-01-26T00:01:00.001-07:00

This is kind of a corny Tadpole Tuesday but cute. When I got home from work the other day my kids had painted me pictures. They never get to paint and dad had let them. So I was thrilled. My son always copies his sister cuz she is so cool. So his pictures were a copy of his sisters. And my daughter made me a holiday paint by number too.

Name Change

2010-01-25T01:30:00.002-07:00

I have not preauthorized this post with Micki, so she may not be too thrilled with me me (but it's 1:30 in the morning, and she would be even less thrilled with me even more if I called her and talked to her about it right now). What would you, our darling readers, think of a name change for the blog? The url would stay the same, but the title would change. The original intent of the blog was to showcase the talents of the people we know and love.....we've kind of strayed from that but in a good way. We have had a lot of fun with the blog so far. The content of the blog would be the same (that is to say evolving as needs to happen, but unchanged in intent). What do you think, should we change the name? Oh!!! I guess you can't make a decision without knowing what the proposed new name is can you? It would just be 2sisters2gether, just like our log in. What do you think? Micki, when you read this, don't kill me for throwing it out there before I talked to you, you still have the ultimate veto power. I love you!!!

Mystery Monday: Craft Day Mystery (Micki)

2010-01-25T00:01:00.011-07:00

We fondly call this tulipalooza. :) It's time to get ready for craft day again!! I am so excited!!! It's going to be so much fun again. So we started getting ready earlier this time so it's not so much stress and money at the end. Here's the mystery: What are we making with these beautiful flowers? Hint: it's not a centerpiece.

Weekend Surprise: Finally Broke Out My Christmas Present (Teri)

2010-01-23T10:30:00.010-07:00

For Christmas I was given money to buy my own present, I bought myself a Cricut Expressions machine. I know, I know, how could I wait this long to use it…..I’ll sum it up for you in two words overwhelming intimidation. I was scared to use it, not because I didn’t know if I could figure it out, but because there are so many things to do with it, and frankly I didn’t know where to start.

Let me start my story by telling you what a fabulous deal I got on my Cricut. I went shopping with my wonderful Mom, the day after Thanksgiving. Walmart had it in their ad for $188 including two cartridges. What an awesome deal, since the machine normally retails for about $350, and the cartridges that came with mine retail for about $25 each. I figured Walmart would be a zoo, and I probably wouldn’t get a machine, but a local craft store had them for $199 with two cartridges, so I decided to go there. Better yet, when I got there the lines weren’t horrible, and they met Wally’s price, $188! Aren’t you turning green with envy at what an awesome steal I got?

I decided that I would start with something really simple, and cheap so as to limit the intimidation factor. I don’t have any Valentine’s decorations at all, so I thought I’d make me one. I had this frame on hand and so I cut this cute heart out of scrapbook paper I already had, and mounted it on more paper I already had using Mod Podge, I let that dry and coated the whole thing again with Mod Podge, let it dry and put it in the frame and voile there you have my first Valentine’s Day Decor (and the world's longest run on sentence). For free!!! Can’t beat that. If any of you have any fabulous suggestions about overcoming my intimidation and overwhelmedness (I know it’s a made up word, but it perfectly describes how I feel) with my Cricut, please give them to me!

Looking at these pictures I realize that my wall hanging needs some work. I am going to put a colored ribbon on the tall ivory candle, any other suggestions?

This post linked to the Frugalicious Friday party at Finding Fabulous and Market Yourself Monday at Sumo's Sweet Stuff and Motivated Monday at Shimmer and Tulle and Get Your Craft On at Today's Creative Blog

Also linked at:

Feature Friday: Tales of a shared womb and shared quirks

2010-01-22T00:01:00.003-07:00

Note: This color is Micki and this color is Teri

You know how everyone has their little quirks. Well we have several of the same quirks (as each other) ......go figure.

We don't like our food to touch on our plates (Micki's mother-in-law gave her separate plates when she first became a part of the family). And don't even think about putting hot food and cold food on the same plate (my mother-in-law used to set out a separate salad plate just for me and my brother-in-law, because of this). And we don't like jello salad (or anything fruity) on the same plate as a green salad. We used to not use the same fork for the main meal and dessert or the same cup twice, but we have gotten over that (speak for yourself, I still like a clean fork for dessert).

We both rub our feet together to go to sleep (it's a comfort thing. I remember when we went to girls camp in the summer and had slick sleeping bags, it used to drive people crazy because they could hear our feet scratching the inside of our bags).

We both have irrational fear of bridges. So if any of you have seen the bridge they are building by the Hoover Dam, you will know we are terrified to think we might have to eventually drive over it(oh, I WON'T be driving over it, I will take the other way). Mine is more a fear of heights in general, I once fell down flat on my stomach riding a ferry over to Vancouver Island because the captain blew the whistle and it scared me because I was on the third deck up.

We both have Asthma that was diagnosed when we were adults.

When we were about eleven they were doing a research study at the local university on twins. We participated and even our brain waves (or lack of them) were identical. It was so much fun!

Guest Day Thursday: Shannon the seamstress (Micki)

2010-01-21T00:01:00.005-07:00

My sister in law, Shannon, is a wonderful seamstress. Before getting her job outside the home, she sewed for a living. She makes anything from bags, to shopping cart covers, to beautiful outfits for little girls. She is one of the most talented people I know. We are just beginner crafters compared to a lot of the people we know. Here are some pics of some of her beautiful work:
A darling purse she made for herself

Cart Covers (the second one even has a matching diaper bag):

What’s Cookin’ Wednesday: A Crumby Dessert (Teri)

2010-01-20T00:01:00.001-07:00

When my brother-in-law and his wife came down for dinner for my hubby’s birthday this weekend, she made these cake bon bons, and they were to die for good! The original recipe is from Betty Crocker, we changed it a tiny bit. Here’s the recipe step by step as I made them with my kids. If you don’t want the complete pictorial, scroll to the bottom of this post and see the Valentine’s version that my kids and I made!

Bake a yellow cake according to package directions and let cool for 15 min (you could use chocolate, but these are really rich as it is). Then crumble. This is why my hubby calls this a "crumby" dessert.

Stir in a full container of chocolate frosting.

Refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours until able to form into balls (we used a small scoop to make ours, they were a little large, but we got more than that recipe said we would, so go figure).

Freeze for half an hour, Melt chocolate chips in a microwave until they are melted enough to dip bon bons into (we used the equivalent to a bag of chocolate chips, although we did part of ours dark chocolate and part milk chocolate). This is where we deviated from the recipe, it called for candy coating, which I guess is essentially white chocolate and regular chocolate, although I’m not sure. Dip bon bons in melted chocolate and touch to favorite toppings. After all are dipped, return to fridge until chocolate is set. Serve!

Tip: Did you know you could toast coconut in the microwave in under 2 minutes? I didn’t, but I found directions online. Put it on a plate spread out, cook in 15 to 30 second intervals stirring in between. I started out with two 30 second intervals and then two 15 second intervals and ended up with gorgeous toasted coconut. When it first comes out of the microwave it will still seem soft and wet, but as it cools it becomes that chewy nutty texture of toasted coconut. This was all of our favorite topping on the bon bons!

I thought these would make great Valentine treats for teachers or sweethearts or whoever. You could package them up in sweet little boxes.

If you look really closely at the pink and white ones, you will see they are micro hearts. Cute huh!

oops

2010-01-19T14:55:00.002-07:00

Tadpole Tuesday: Kids in the Kitchen (Teri)

2010-01-19T00:01:00.000-07:00

We have been working really hard lately to eat out less. So far we have gone from eating out about 5-7 times a week (I know *gasp*) to once maybe twice a week. I know awesome huh? Better yet, we are all cooking more. As part of that, I have been having my daughter who is almost 12 cook once a week. She plans what she will cook and I put it on the menu for a day I’m not working and can help her. She LOVES to cook, and especially bake (she is in the kitchen working on the recipe I will be posting tomorrow right now). For Christmas a couple of her gifts were cooking themed, and she got measuring cups and spoons in her stocking. So what have I found that is easy for her to use, and that she loves you ask?

My son also likes to help, but at six, sometimes it’s mostly just a fun activity (for them anyway) than it is actual help.

For Christmas my daughter got Paula Deen’s Cooking for the Luchbox Set. It’s fabulous for kids (and beginning cooks) because not only are the recipes simple, but there are illustrations to boot! The recipes are given step by step, which is annoying to me as a more experienced cook but awesome for her.

My daughter also got the Perfect Brownie Pan. I know you are holding your sides and laughing (and would be laughing even harder if you knew that her brother gave her a Snuggie). It’s so fun for her though, and the brownies (from a mix so far is all) turn out great and in perfect proportion to each other.

Micki has been working with her daughter (if you read this post, you will know she is almost 12 as well) on cooking as well. Her daughter’s favorite food is tacos, so that’s the first thing Micki taught her to make. Now, I realize you are going, how hard are tacos? But there are a lot of beginning skills to be learned by making tacos. She does everything including chopping all the veges. She may have a Perfect Brownie Pan coming her way someday soon!

Is there anything out there that you love for the budding chef (or the experienced on as well)? We would love to hear about it.

Mystery Monday: Slump

2010-01-18T00:01:00.001-07:00

Micki and I were talking about what to post today. As you notice there is no picture. We have both been in a craft slump. Not for the lack of desire or projects on our list, just for lack of time to get anything done. I have a couple of projects in the works, hopefully I’ll be able to post later this week, and Micki is busy getting ready for our next craft extravaganza at her mother-in-laws (it’s in mid March, lets hope you don’t have to wait until then to see a new project from us). So the mystery today is :

What projects are you working on, since we don’t have any to share?

Feature Friday: Tales of a Shared Womb....Scarey Similarities

2010-01-15T00:01:00.000-07:00

Side note: Took this picture ourselves in Vegas. Not the best picture ever. Teri is on the left and Micki is on the right (It's the only one we could find with us both together that we haven't already posted, since we both LOVE having our picture taken so much)

Same as last week, this color is Micki, and this color is Teri.

We have some funny similarities as adults (It's really kindda scary sometimes actually).

First, we are both nurses. Our love is labor and delivery. What better thing than to see a new life come into the world. Unfortunately for Teri she can not get on in labor and delivery in her small town (ocassionally I do get to float there, and I work on Pediatrics a lot now, so that helps fill the need).

Our names don't rhyme, obviously, but our husbands do!

Now on to our kids. We each have 2. Our older ones were both unplanned but a blessing none the less. They are both girls, and were the same weight, length, and head circumference and were born 2 weeks apart. Now here is the difference Micki had hers naturally with no drugs (nutso I know) and Teri had a c-section after laboring and pushing for hours and a trial forceps. Then our second children were born when our first were in kindergarten because our husbands were not ready for them before that (I was actually not ready at first, because of my experience the first time, then my husband was unemployed, then he was finally ready). They were both planned but our husbands forbid us to tell eachother we were trying to get pregnant because they didn't want the other one to plan a baby at the same time. lol Sometimes our "twiness" gets on their nerves. (They should so know by now that we don't keep secrets from each other very well). So we ended up getting pregnant a few weeks apart anyway. Of course, the second I was pregnant I told Teri. And she laughed and said that they were trying too. She came down to visit when I was about 6 weeks pregnant and we went to our first Bon Jovi concert (cuz Bon Jovi is our secret boyfriend lol) and Teri was probably pregnant and didn't even know. She was so sad I was pregnant and she wasn't, it broke my heart. But it all worked out. So the boys were born almost 6 weeks apart. Hooray!! It's been so much fun for my mom because it's like she has 2 sets of twins. The kids actually love to dress alike and call eachother their twin cousins. They all look very similar. You would mistake them for siblings if you didn't know. Although, Micki's daughter and Teri's son have very similar personalities and vise versa for the other 2. It's so much fun!!!!!!
Both of our inlaw families think it's hysteical how much a like our kids look. When were were home visiting my hubby's family for the holidays, they kept commenting about how much the picture of Micki's son on their Christmas card looked like my son. We love it!!! It has been so much fun having kids together.

You guys have got to have some unasked funny questions about twins. Let us have them, there are no stupid questions and we will do our best to answer anything.

Guest Day Thursday: More Quilts (Teri)

2010-01-14T08:47:00.002-07:00

Remember these gorgeous quilts from last Thursday? Well here’s part two! During the last year or so, for their birthdays, the grandkids have all received quilts. Each focused on their favorite theme and was made to fit a twin sized bed. (Please don’t hate me because my in-laws are so awesome!)

If you missed last weeks installment of the quilts, I’ll give a quick recap. My in-laws are amazing quilters. I do have to edit a little from what I told you last week. My father-in-law did all of the hand appliqué on the blocks, and my mother-in-law has done all the piecing of the tops with the exception of my darling son’s, which my father-in-law did the top in it’s entirety. My mother-in-law then HAND quilts each one and binds the edges. Yes I did say they are HAND appliquéd and HAND quilted. Each one takes an enormous amount of time and love. Be sure you click here if you missed last week.

Here are the quilts they made for the grandkids, my kids quilts are the first two.

My daughter loves bright colors and bugs.

My son adores trains, and look at the darling sports balls the train is hauling, he loves any kind of sports ball.

My oldest niece has a beach themed room. Don’t you want to put your swim suit on and go for a dip?

I love the fabrics they picked for my oldest nephews lizard quilt. Aren’t these great reptiles?

My next niece (lizard boy’s twin, how cool is that, another set of twins in my family), LOVES Tinkerbell.

This Ancient Egypt themed quilt was made for my second nephew who is fascinated by this theme. The center panel was cross-stitched by my father-in-law and then my mother in law designed the rest of the top around it.

this darling canine quilt was made for the Pharaoh's sister. I think she will make a great Vet some day, she loves dogs and all animals as well.

This darling Spring themed quilt was made for my youngest niece. She has more of a pastel room than my daughter, and her mom loves frogs. Doesn’t it make you want to get outside?

This one was made for the current baby of the family (although that baby is almost three). He is a fisherman and loves anything fish related. I just think this is the cutest thing ever.

Thank you Mom and Dad for letting me feature your beautiful work. It’s amazing!!! You are both so talented and have put so much work into the homemade gifts that you give all of us. Don’t think your hard work goes unappreciated. I am particularly glad that you took me under your “craft wing” and taught me how to fly. You were the first to encourage me creatively, and I still look to your for inspiration.

What's Cookin' Wednesday: Ice Cream Pie Yum!!

2010-01-13T00:01:00.004-07:00

This is a recipe our mom made growing up. Until recently we hadn't really made it, but have rediscovered how delicious and easy it is!!

1/4 cup peanut butter

1/4 cup white corn syrup

2 cups honey nut corn flakes (we can only find plain honey corn flakes now)

1 quart vanilla ice cream, softened

Chocolate ice cream topping

Chopped nuts

Melt peanut butter and corn syrup together and mix into corn flakes. Press mixture into the bottom of a greased 9" pie plate. Spread ice cream over mixture and freeze. Remove from freezer about 10 minutes before serving. Serve with chocolate topping and nuts over slices. If making a 9"x13" pan double the recipe.

Hints and tips from us: I made the double batch and used half chocolate ice cream and half vanilla and the chocolate was a huge hit. So you can use whatever kind of ice cream you want to. I also served mine with butterscotch, chocolate, and carmel. Yum!! Loved it with slivered almonds!! For the ice cream soften it for about 10 or 15 minutes and put it in a bowl and make sure you can stir it. Then stir it and spread over crust.

Jumped the gun

2010-01-13T00:01:00.002-07:00

I jumped the gun for tomorrows post....sorry if anyone got a preview. lol That's usually Teris job, but I guess it was my turn.

Tadpole Tuesday: Fishbowl Cupcakes (Teri)

2010-01-12T00:01:00.001-07:00

Micki gave me the best cupcake book ever, it’s called Hello, Cupcake. The cupcakes are absolutely darling. A while back, we had some friends who’s fish died, so we decided to take them some cupcakes (okay, I was looking for an excuse to make cute cupcakes). This is what my daughter and I managed to create. Aren’t they darling. They aren’t exactly the same as the book, but they were a lot of fun to make all the same. There are a ton of others that I want to try, but none that I have been brave enough to do yet.

2010-01-11T13:04:00.001-07:00

We interrupt the regularly scheduled program to tell you that we are being featured today as Blog of the Week on the awesome Kathy's blog Creative Home Expressions!!! Troll on over there and check it out. She has an awesome blog. If you are visiting from CHE, THANKS!!! We love to have new visitors and followers.

Mystery Monday: Cleaning Products

2010-01-11T00:01:00.000-07:00

We thought today we would share some of our favorite cleaning products with you.

Micki’s Favorites:

I love to use all natural cleaners that work great!! I know I am being preachy but they really are better for you and the environment. They are also better for my son who has asthma. These 2 are ones that I use everyday. The Mrs Myers Clean Day I use on my counter tops in the kitchen and bathrooms. The lavender is my favorite scent, but I like the lemon verbena too. The Holy Cow window cleaner I use on all the glass and mirrors in my home and it works great!! Smells great too!! I do not care for the Holy Cow multipurpose cleaner. It works well but smells really bad. I am really into the way my cleaners smell, because if they don't smell good, neither does your home (she forgot to tell you, especially when you have to cats, sorry Mick, had to add that).

Teri’s Favorite:

I LOVE Method brand multipurpose cleaner. I use it on my counters and table. It cleans well, smells good, and is better for the environment. I agree with Micki, if your cleaners don’t smell good, your house sometimes doesn’t either. I haven’t jumped on the natural product bandwagon as much as Micki has (or as much as I should either), but I do like it when I can use less harsh cleaners. Here’s what the company says about their products (I took this right from their website).

All method products contain natural ingredients. When you see the word "natural" on a method label, it means that 100% of its functional cleaning ingredients - things like soaps, detergents, solvents and enzymes - are either found in nature or derived from natural sources.

We use natural and naturally derived materials from renewable or abundant sources wherever we can. If we can't find a natural ingredient to get the job done, we'll use a safe, green, man-made version instead. In all cases, we only use ingredients that have passed through a comprehensive green and health screen: ingredients we have confirmed to be totally safe for people and safe for the environment.

"Natural" is still not a standardized or regulated term. So while we could, we won't call a product "natural" if even one of its functional ingredients isn't natural or naturally derived. When it comes to labeling our products, we hold ourselves to a high standard because we believe that a natural cleaner should actually come from nature.

The mystery: What are your favorite cleaning products?

Feature Friday: Tales of a shared womb

2010-01-08T09:14:00.008-07:00

Edited: Anything this color is Micki, anything this color is Teri. It can't just be a one sided post. Sorry it's taken ages to get this post up. I have been having technical difficulties.

Last week one of our readers asked us if we ever dated the same guys. (It's a question we actually get a lot, but it always makes us giggle).

Answer Nope.....we have very different taste in men. We attribute it to our birth order. Lol! Teri is the oldest so she always bossed me around. So I have always liked guys who take charge and Teri has always liked guys she can be in charge with. Sounds silly I know. (She makes me sound so bossy! And for the record, she likes to be bossed around right Rozanna?)

Teri did remind me yesterday that one night we kissed the same boy though (I have conveniently blocked this time in my life out however). (It was a very unfortunate experience, one I wish I could block it out of my mind)

One time when we were in college Teri went to a church dance with some friends. She met a really cute boy there she thought I would like so she gave him our number (she already had a boyfriend at the time). So when he called I pretended I was her. We talked on the phone a few times and then I set up a date. But my mom spoiled all the fun and guilted me into telling him the truth. Lol! (She would never let us be dishonest like that....guess it's a good thing....but it sure would have been fun) It all worked out though because we still went out and ended up dating for a few months.

We did trade classes once. The gag was up though when one of our friends spilled the beans to Micki's history teacher and he handed me a stack of papers and told me to give them to Micki. But, for some odd reason we never did get in trouble for that. I also remember that we were in orchestra and traded instruments, that didn't last long, since neither one of us knew how to play the other's instrument.

Any other questions out there for us? Any guesses who is Teri and who is Micki in the picture?

Guest Day Thursday: In-Law’s Quilts (Teri)

2010-01-07T07:59:00.002-07:00

I have the most talented quilters for in-laws. No, I’m not talking about my just my mother-in-law, but my father-in-law as well. This last couple of years, they have really gone all out for the family for presents. Three Christmases ago they picked the name of the couple in the family that is the hardest to buy for (sorry Tam, but it’s true, at least as far as your other half goes anyway). My darling mother-in-law knew my sister-in-law wanted a new bed cover of some sort, so my father-in-law went to work piecing the top, then my mother-in-law quilted it and bound it. Yes, I did say my father-in-law pieced the top. He is very talented. And the quilting and finishing job my mother-in-law does is amazing. She does piecing too, but for the quilts they have made to give away lately, my father-in-law has done most (if not all) of the piecing. Don’t I have talented in-laws!?!

Here is the finished masterpiece, which made my cute sister-in-law cry because it meant so much to her that they would be so thoughtful to pick the perfect gift.

Well, this of course set a standard for gift giving for the next few Christmases. The couple that my in-laws drew for the next few years have/are going to get a quilt. Here are the other two that they have given the most recent two Christmases.

Guess what? Next year it’s my turn!!! Isn’t that exciting. My mother in law let me choose my colors and had me pick some of the blocks I liked. So even though I have to wait almost a year, I’m next!!! (I picked more neutral colors, so I can accessorize with whatever colors I want).

There are still two more quilts that they haven’t gotten pictures of that they did for my two single sister in-laws this year, I hope I cant post them soon (I just couldn’t wait for them in order to post these). If you are trying to do the math, five of my husband's siblings have gotten quilts, my husband and I get ours next Christmas, and we are the last..... (yes my husband comes from a moderately large family, although not huge compared to a lot of familys where we live).

I can’t wait to share with you the quilts they did for all the grandkids, but that will have to be another post. Too much eye candy would be dangerous for one post.

What’s Cookin’ Wednesday: Pretzel Jello

2010-01-06T08:38:00.004-07:00

This yummy pie, dessert like, salad thingy was a staple at holiday meals when we were growing up, and now we both get requests to make it for our in-laws (and go ahead, insert any Mormon and Jello joke you want, we can take it). This is more like a dessert, but we usually serve it with dinner.

Crust:

2 c. crushed pretzels

3/4 c. butter

3 tbsp sugar

Mix all ingredients and place in a grease 9”x12” pan. Bake at 400° for 5 minutes. Let cool.

Filling:

1 – 8 oz. package cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1 – 8 oz. container Cool Whip (we both prefer to mix our own cream for this, approx 3/4 – 1 pint will do the trick, whip it and sweeten and add vanilla to your taste)

Mix cream cheese and sugar together, fold in Cool Whip (or cream) and spread over cooled pretzels

Jello:

2 – 3 oz. packages raspberry Jello

2 cups boiling water

2 – 8 oz. packages frozen raspberries in syrup

Drain raspberries, reserving syrup. (Note: we haven’t been able to find these lately, if you can’t find them, just buy regular frozen raspberries). Dissolve Jello in boiling water, when dissolved add syrup from raspberries (if you don’t have the syrup, just add 1 cup cold water). Gently stir in raspberries. When mixture starts to thicken, pour over cream cheese layer. Refrigerate for several hours until Jello is set up.

This is one of our all time favorites to prepare and eat. The family loves it!!!

I apologize for the poor picture, it was taken with my cell phone.

Mystery Monday and Tadpole Tuesday in one: Scarves

2010-01-05T00:01:00.002-07:00

Okay I know its cheating but I am doing a 2 for 1 post. My post for yesterday didn't get done after I worked my 4th 12 hour shift in a row. I am sorry. But todays is about the same thing so it all works out...right? :) My daughter got a gift from her Aunt Teri several years ago of a knifty knitter loom. On the loom you just figure 8 wrap the yarn up and down the loom to the desired width and then wrap it again the other way. Then you use a little tool to take the bottom yarn over the top one and it knits a scarf. Its so easy!! Well we never did really use it. So this week my friend Amey inspired me to get it out when she used hers to make me a scarf. So I made one, and each of my kids decided that they needed one too. So I took my tadpoles to pick out their yarn and bought the loom for hats too. Well, okay it wasn't just one loom, it was the variety pack of looms. I can't do anything small. I have to get everything that they have out for every project I do.

The new looms and my kids yarn
The scarf loom and tool (and partially done scarf)

My done scarf

Feature Friday: Tales of a Shared Womb

2010-01-01T00:01:00.003-07:00

Happy New Year!!!

Okay, so we are going to test the waters today with a new “feature” for some Fridays. It remains to be seen how often we will do this, but here goes. We would like to share with you guys some of what it is like to be identical twins. We don’t know if you guys would be interested, or if you are interested, what you would like to read about. So we are throwing it out there to you, our dear readers, what do you think?

To start the series off, we thought we would share what our very favorite thing is about being a twin…..always having a best friend, who knows exactly what you need, no matter what!

See, even back then we were fabulous fashionistas! Aren’t you jealous of our stylish hats?

If you would kindly leave us a comment or send us an email 2sisters2gether@gmail.com letting us know what you think, and what you would like us to talk about, it would make our week! Thanks for your continued support of this little adventure of ours.

Guest Day Thursday: A Very Special Guest

2009-12-30T23:31:00.002-07:00

Our very favorite Christmas tradition is one that Teri started when she was first married 15 years ago, and Micki and our Mom have both continued with her. We all have a collection of nativities or crèche. We all have little ones and big ones and elaborate ones, and expensive ones……well you get the idea. Mom has approximately 13, Micki has approximately 15 and Teri has close to 30. Here are some pictures of some of our favorites, we can’t include nearly all of them, but we would like to end the year with a reminder of what Christmas is all about.

Heartwood Creek by Jim Shore

Lladro (a special gift from Daddy to Mom)

Fisher Price Little People (even the little ones need a nativity they can use to tell the story)

As we start the New Year, please remember all the blessings that are afforded us by that tiny babe in the stable.

Luke 2:10 & 11

”And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord”

What's Cookin Wednesday: Cookie Day

2009-12-30T00:01:00.000-07:00

Every year with My (Micki's) sister-in-laws and my mother in law we make tons and tons of cookies to give away and eat. We each bring a kind and we make like 3 kinds. This year Sabrina and I had a miscommunication and brought the same kind. So we had a ton of ginger molasses cookies. lol We also had rice crispie treats, and Teris darling daughter made a no bake cookie, and we had muddy buddy mix and sugar cookies. Then we made Texas sheet cake, Neiman Marcus cookies, peanut blossoms, and Shannon made kalua cake. It is always so much fun!! Teri got a couple of hours before we were done but wouldn't let me take her picture because she had gone to sleep in the car with wet hair and it was craaaaaaaaaazzzzzzzzyyyyyyyy!!! I would love to share the recipe for Neiman Marcus cookies which supposedly some lady paid a few hundred dollars for by accident and so she shared it with everyone she knew. They are so delicious!!! The batch makes a ton so we usually make it half at a time to fit in the mixer better.

Neiman Marcus Cookies
Ingredients:
2 cups butter
2 tsp soda
5 cups blended oatmeal (measure before blending into fine powder)
1 8 oz herseys bar (we use the symphony bar with the toffee and almonds)
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp vanilla
4 cups flour
2 cups sugar
24 oz chocolate chips
1 tsp salt
4 eggs
3 cups chopped nuts (we use slivered almonds and chop them a little bit more)

Cream the butter and both sugars. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix together with flour, oatmeal, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Add chocolate chips, herseys bar and nuts. Roll into balls and place two inches apart on a cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes at 375 degrees. Makes 112 cookies.

Micki doing dishes

Sabrina just finished mixing cookies

Shannon volunteered for the awful job of grating chocolate

Laurel and Trish mixing away :)

Tadpole Tuesday: Christmas Gifts (Teri)

2009-12-29T16:34:00.004-07:00

Remember these soaps that my daughter made for her friends for Christmas? Here’s the completed present:

The cute box started out looking like this:

A little Mod Podge and some scrapbook paper and a total transformation:

Here’s the breakdown:

Box - 50¢ at a local thrift

Mod Podge & scrapbook paper already on hand – free

Soaps – approx 50¢

Cute colored wash rag - 50¢ (came in a package of 8 for $4)

Nail polish kit – $1 in dollar section at Target

Pedicure kit – on clearance for 50¢ in dollar section at Target

Basket - $1 in dollar section at Target.

Grand total: $4 a piece (we made 6) and time and love. Not a bad price for something so cute I don’t think. My daughters friends seemed to love them. My only regret is that we put the paper clear to the top of the box, so when we put the lids back on some of the paper got squished. I guess you just live and learn.

We haven't participated in a linky party in a few weeks, so we are linking up to Finding Fabulous' Frugalicious Friday

Mystery Monday: Our Disappearance and a Feature

2009-12-28T16:39:00.004-07:00

Today's mystery:

Where have we been?

I guess we are the only ones who can answer that. We have been enjoying each other's company over the Christmas holiday. It was an unintentional vacation, we meant to post the things we had planned, but life just got busy. It wasn't a priority this week. If you will indulge us, we will post the things we had planned for last week, this week. Sorry if you have to hear about Christmas again after Christmas, but we had some fun things planned. We hope everyone had a fabulous holiday, we did, because we were able to spend it together (the only thing missing was our parents who opted not to join us this year).

We would also like to give a shout out to Mod Podge Amy and thank her for featuring our Noel Blocks on her blog on Christmas Eve. We meant to tell you earlier, but like we said it just didn't happen. If you click here it will take you to our feature, but please stay and visit her blog, it's awesome!

Mystery Monday (tardy again): Christmas Snowman

2009-12-21T07:10:00.004-07:00

We are sorry that this post is late......but you know how this time of year is. Time just gets away from you. We have suspended our Christmas traditions until Christmas Eve. Our last one is very special to us and we would love to talk about it on the Eve of Jesus' birth. So today we are featuring our last craft from craft day. Here is our darling little snowman....this is my mother in laws. :) What are some of your cute Christmas crafts? We hope you are having a good holiday season.

Feature Friday: Vegas Baby!

2009-12-17T23:55:00.003-07:00

Micki and I had the wonderful opportunity to attend a nursing conference in Las Vegas with nurses from around the country. We got to hear this darling lady with her great sense of humor impart her wisdom to us. (Micki is on the left in pink and I am on the right in black).

We got to see a friend we haven’t seen in about 12 years (thanks again Lisa and Todd for taking us to dinner, especially on such short notice)

We got to see a lot of cowboys and cowgirls, because the National Finals Rodeo was in town.

We visited this pretty tree on Freemont Street (even if Micki thought we were going to get mugged or propositioned because we were there a little later than we probably should have been).

Now you didn’t think we would actually get together and NOT craft did you? It may sound sad to some of you, but we did craft in our hotel room. Neither one of us are gamblers or drinkers, and who wants to drop that kind of money on a show so close to Christmas? Here we are working on our ornament wreaths (yes I know everyone is making them, ours don’t use the Eddie Ross method), in our pajamas. (note: if you know our mom, please don’t tell her that there are pictures of her grown and married daughters in their pajamas on the internet, she would disown us). We had a lot of fun! We are already planning our next getaway.

(left to right: Micki, Teri, Micki)

We have to apologize for the poor pictures. Vegas is not known as the city of light, and we are not know for being great picture takers.

Pray for Claire

2009-12-17T16:17:00.004-07:00

If you haven't been following the story of Benson & Claire, please click here:

Claire is a spunky little toddler who is going in for a double kidney and liver transplant tonight. Please pray for her!

Guest Day Thursday: Kim’s Winter Frame

2009-12-17T00:01:00.000-07:00

Some of my real life friends have said that they don’t know who is blogging when we blog, so we will try and let you know from now on. Teri here. I know I’ve mentioned my book club before, but they really are where a lot of my inspiration has motivation has come from. They are way more than a book club, they are life long friends. Well, this lovely lady and I both used to belong to aforementioned book club, and have both since moved (sad I know). She is amazingly talented and gorgeous to boot! Her name is Kim and she works for Rusty Pickle (they design and sell scrapbook stuff in case you lived under a log, scrapbooking wise anyway). Without further adieu I’ll let her introduce herself. Take it away Kim!

Well, let's see....I am a wife to one fabulous husband, daughter of two patient parents, mom of three unbelievable children, friend to four amazing women, and sister to five memorable siblings. I am a designer for a local scrapbook store & Rusty Pickle, a scrapbook company. I have a passion for creativity and love to tell stories through my photos. I sometimes feel frazzled, but most of the time I am overwhelmed by the blessings in my life.

The quote on the frame says:
"Cleaning the house while the kids are still growing is like shoveling snow while it is still snowing."
I know that you probably have memories of shoveling, but don't have much white stuff now!
{This was made with Cosmo Cricket's Jolly Be Golly paper line and all their yummy embellishments! The frame is by Fancy Pants.}

Thanks you Kim! That quote is so true, if you could see my house right now you would agree. If you would like to see more of Kim’s darling projects, you can go here. I hope I will be able to post some more of my talented friends and their projects!

What’s Cookin’ Wednesday: Grandma’s Ginger Snaps (Teri)

2009-12-16T00:01:00.001-07:00

Our grandma used to make the most heavenly ginger snaps. Now, I know a ginger snap is a kind of love it/hate it kind of a cookie. I don’t love most ginger snaps. I find them crunchy (which a cookie shouldn’t be if you ask me), dry and with too much of a bite. These are NOT that cookie. They are moist, soft and mellow. I don’t know what the secret is to the balance, but it is perfect (just ask me I ate enough of them while I was making them). There is something about Christmas that just says ginger snap to me, I make them almost every year. Let us know if you try them and if you liked them, we’d love to hear!

Grandma’s Ginger Snaps

Cream:

1 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup shortening

Add:

1 egg

4 tbsp molasses

Mix Well.

Add:

2 cups flour

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp cloves

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp ginger

2 tsp soda

Mix well. roll in balls the size of a walnut and roll in granulated sugar. Place on a cookie sheet, bake 10 – 15 min at 350°.

I made these and packed them in these cute little buckets with lids that I found at Big Lots for 2/$2. My daughter is in intermediate school, and she is taking them tomorrow to give to her teachers (5 plus her bus driver). It wasn’t an expensive treat, but I love baking, and unfortunately if it stays in my house, I eat it ALL.

2009-12-15T23:55:00.001-07:00

For those of you who caught my quick-on-the-trigger early post for Thursday, sorry for the teaser glimpse and then pulling it away. It has been rescheduled to post when it should on Thursday.
teri

Tadpole Tuesday: Email to Santa (Micki)

2009-12-14T23:38:00.002-07:00

My kids and I wrote an email to Santa. It’s a great website! We had fun.

Here’s the link so you can do your own.

Here’s my letter and the response I got :)

Dear Santa Claus,

My name is Micki. I am a girl and I am already 35 years old!! I live in the great city of Whoville. Of course, that's in Utah, United States, but I'll bet you knew that!! This year I've been so good that, well, ok, maybe my halo has been to the repair shop a few times this year.

Santa Claus, some things I might like for Christmas this year are:
- peace on earth;
- friendship for all; and,
- crafting for everyone!!!.

Santa Claus, I almost forgot to say... Santa Claus I almost forgot, I would also like a Rockem' Sockem' Robot Game

Love, Micki

#1, Rudolph Way
North Pole, Canada
HO HO HO

Whoville, Utah
United States

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Merry Christmas Micki!

Thank you for sending me your email all the way from Whoville! (Make sure to say 'Hi!' to Max from Rudolph when you get a chance!) Did you know that Whoville is one of Mrs. Claus' favourite places? The other thing she really likes is to read all your wonderful emails. As a matter of fact, she was just asking if I had heard from you lately!

My goodness, Micki! Are you fibbing to ol' Santa Claus?!? You can't possibly be 35 years old already! Why it seems like only yesterday that I was leaving presents for a certain little girl and here you are now, practically one of Santa's elves! (*grin*)

Sorry the presents the last little while probably haven't been quite as exciting as they were when you were a little girl but, well, you know how these things go (*wink*). Anyway, Santa's glad to see some of the 'older kids' (not to mention anyone in particular!) still take the time to write. I also hear you've been a sorta good girl. (Of course, you won't mind if I do a little checking, will you? HO!! Ho!! ho!!).

Let's see what you put in your letter for Christmas wishes: 1. peace on earth; 2. friendship for all and; 3. crafting for everyone!!!. Well, I have something to tell you about your Christmas presents. An elf is working hard on them right now! The elf's name is Clumsy. We really do love Clumsy (he really does make the best presents!) -- I just wish he'd be a little more, well, careful sometimes. I hope you won't be sad Micki if I can't bring you everything you want because Clumsy the Elf really wants you to have a very Merry Christmas!

Well, it's time for Santa Claus to go do his chimney exercises. Up! Down! Up! Down! Have to be in tip-top shape for the big night! Take care Micki and don't forget to come back and visit me here at EmailSanta.com on Christmas Eve!! And remember... only 10 more sleeps until Christmas!!

Lots of Love,

Mystery Monday: Christmas Traditions

2009-12-13T18:10:00.003-07:00

The first year Micki was dating her husband she came home with him for Thanksgiving. Her husbands mom sent them to Kmart to buy candles for the table. While there she spotted a cute Christmas Teddy Bear. She told her hubby (then boyfriend) about it. She came home before him and when she picked him up at the airport he had the bear for her. So every year since then they have bought a Christmas Bear. This year she switched to Walmart because the bear was cuter! They decided to break the mold and not get a traditional colored one. It's kind of a cheesy tradition, but special to them. They are on their 14th bear. :) They have no idea where they are going to start putting them all. They are getting overrun with bears.
The poor dirty one in the front was their very first and Micki slept with him for quite awhile so he got a little tattered and stained. Oops.

One of our other traditions at the holiday season is that on New Years Eve Mother Goose comes to leave one small gift for the kids every year. When Micki and Teri were little one year Mother Goose left Monchichis (yes that will date us). We got a boy one and a girl one and named them Mon and Chichi. So creative weren't we?

Now for the mystery: What are some of your quirky Holiday traditions?

Edited: We are linking up to Somday Crafts Christmas Traditions party.

(Another tardy) Guest Day Thursday: Laurel’s Candy Wreath

2009-12-10T23:51:00.006-07:00

Micki’s mother-in-law has made the most darling candy wreaths for years for her neighbors. It is so cute!!! And, you get to eat it. She taught us all how to make them at craft day, but hers is the only one finished. You basically tie about a billion candies on and then attach a pair of scissors and let people cut candies off for a treat. I don’t know about you, but I would hate to ruin that gorgeous wreath by taking a piece off! Isn’t it darling?!? It isn’t very expensive either, because you can get the candy cheap, and then the scissors you can get at the dollar store. The rest is just a hanger, newspaper, ribbon and curling ribbon. It is very time consuming, but so worth it, because they turn out so cute! Thanks Laurel for letting us share your wreath!!!

This post will be edited as we join parties to share this darling creation!

What’s Cookin’ Wednesday: White Chicken Chili (Teri)

2009-12-10T23:34:00.004-07:00

Edited: Sorry this is posted so late, we were in Vegas this week, and weren’t able to finish it.
I have a fabulous group of book club friends who have supplied me with a ton of delicious recipes, and they have granted me permission to share them with you (thanks girls!). This is a great cold weather recipe. I know we have shared a few soup type recipes already, but the are so versatile for cold weather.

White Bean Chicken Chile

(Thanks Angie & congrats!!!)

6 cans Great Northern Beans

2 small onions

4 cans chicken broth (or bullion to make a scant 8 cups)

1/2 tsp chopped garlic

2 cans diced green chilies

1 1/2 tsp oregano

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp salt

24 oz. sour cream

3-4 cooked and cubed chicken breasts

Throw all the ingredients into a crock pot except he sour cream and cook all day. 8-10 hours on low or 4-6 hours on high, or until you eat it. Add the sour cream the last hour.

Angie’s note: This makes enough to feed an army. I usually only make half for our family and have plenty of leftovers. It’s great for a freezer meal. Just don’t freeze the sour cream.

Teri’s note: I didn’t have cooked chicken, so I threw it in with everything except the beans and cooked it on high for the morning. At lunch I took it out and chopped it and turned it down and added the beans. It was plenty cooked and had great flavor. I don’t love the flavor of green chilies so much, so I dumped them in a strainer and rinsed them, they still gave good flavor without being overwhelming, if you love green chilies just dump them in.

I decided that this week while I was posting my recipe, I would post my first tablescape and join Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Tablescape Thursday. Here is my table. I have small children, and wanted to make the table kid friendly, so I used my everyday dishes instead of my china. I will list all my patterns, etc. at the end of this post.

This is a view of the whole table (with my too bright sunshine yellow walls….if I haven’t mentioned it, I rent, so some things I have not yet invested in to change, however we will be repainting).

My beautiful cupcake tier that my friend made for me for Christmas was my centerpiece.

Here’s the rundown:

Dishes by Corelle called Callaway (inherited from my Grandma)

goblets pattern called Lonchamps

Salt & Pepper shakers by Gibson called Holly Celebration (part of my Christmas dishes)

Water carafe purchased at a garage sale for 25¢

All ornaments purchased at Dollar Tree

Cupcake tier made for me by a friend (thanks!!!)

tea light holders on clearance last year at Pier One I think

tea lights Ikea

napkin rings (square acrylic risers under tea light holders) purchased as a wedding gift at Mervyn’s

Tablecloth on clearance at Walmart last year

We are participating:

Tadpole Tuesday: Homemade Soap (Teri)

2009-12-08T12:24:00.007-07:00

**If you are one of my daughter’s friends, don’t keep reading unless you want to see part of your Christmas present**

In an effort to make more homemade Christmas presents, my darling daughter wanted to make something for her friends. When I was blog stalking back in October I found these darling soaps, and knew that it was a craft my daughter could do with just a little help. I also thought that most girls love fun bath products. I found some darling silicone muffin trays in Christmas Tree and Snowflake shapes at Target in their bargain section for $2.50 and some Christmas Tree shaped silicone ice cube trays at Dollar Tree. I think the cute shapes made all the difference. I bought the glycerin soap for molding at Michael’s and used a 40% off coupon. I bought the scents and glitter on clearance at Michael’s. Total for twelve large soaps and twenty small soaps for less than $20, but I will be able to use the molds and glitter for multiple other projects, and the scents for at least one more batch. If you adjust for that I spent about $10. No too bad for that many darling soaps. I will try and give you a short version of how to make these, if you want to know the exact steps go here.

We cute the glycerin into pieces and melted it in the microwave, after it was melted, we added the scent and the glitter.

Then we filled the trays (just a little note, the glycerin sticks to the sides of the container and the spatula, we just let it cool a little, and melted it again in the microwave and used it. I was apprehensive because of the glitter, but we didn’t have any trouble with it sparking).

We let them cool undisturbed for about twenty to thirty minutes and then my kids popped them out of the molds.

I tried to stage them so that you can see how cute they turned out. I wanted some Christmas paper, but I wasn’t at home and wasn’t going to have another chance to take a picture later, so I apologize for the busyness. Don’t you think they are so fun? We will defiantly be making more.

Mystery Monday: Christmas Elves & A Rat

2009-12-07T11:35:00.005-07:00

For those of you who missed last weeks Mystery Monday, we are posting all about our Christmas traditions every Monday in December. If you missed last weeks post, you can read it here.

Since our girls were little the Christmas Elves have visited our houses. Our kids each have special pillowcases that have a little pocket that the Elves put a surprise in. I hope you can see the cute little pocket in the picture. Even though they are almost teenagers, they still get just as excited about the Elves. Now that they are bigger, the Elves leave things like lip gloss and nail polish. Their little brothers get things like toy cars and bouncy balls. It starts on the twelfth of December, because the last night that the Elves come is the twenty-third because the stockings get filled on the twenty-fourth.

Ever since Micki’s husband was little, his family has had a “Christmas Rat” under the tree. This is a cute little burlap rat that holds candy. There are specific candies that tradition dictates must fill the the rat, they are, York Peppermint Patties, Rolos, and Reese’s Peanut butter cups. One year Micki and her sister-in-law were sent to get the rat candy, and they bought crunchy Reese’s cups and Hersey’s Kisses instead of Rolos, when they arrived home with the candy they were promptly sent back to the store to purchase the correct candy. They now understand the proper care and feeding of the rat. All of the siblings in Micki’s husband’s family now have their own Christmas Rat to fill. The grandkids think it’s fabulous because they have unrestricted access to candy. Isn’t he cute?

What are some of your unique Christmas traditions?

We have to apologize for the sporadic posts, we are in Lost Wages (aka Las Vegas) for a conference and we have limited (free) internet access. This post will be edited soon to include a picture of the darling Christmas rat.

Edited: We are linking up to Somday Crafts Christmas Traditions party

Guest Day Friday Featuring Us

2009-12-03T22:30:00.004-07:00

Okay, so we were just trying to get both Guest Day Thursday and Feature Friday done in the same post. It’s been a busy week, and this post didn’t get done earlier, so there ya go. We are featuring one of the projects that we did at craft day (click here if you missed that post). We wanted to do a chunky Christmas decoration that was still pretty simple to create (not so sure that chunky and Christmas belong in the same sentence, but it is what it is today). Here are our NOEL blocks. Sorry there are no pictures of the steps, we were just having too much fun to take the time to take pictures of the whole process. It's pretty simple though, cut a 4x4 down to size (or get friendly with the guy at Home Depot and learn his life story while you spend two hours there getting stuff cut, and then he feels so generous, that he doesn't even charge you for all those cuts. But we wouldn't tell anyone that that's what happened, because we wouldn't want to get the nice guy at Home Depot in trouble). Then you paint them your desired color, Mod Podge on some cute paper and apply the vinyl letters. Voile! It was so fun to see how different everyone's turned out depending on the paper they picked.

Micki’s blocks

Micki’s other blocks (this set has already been gifted)

Teri’s Blocks

Our “guests” blocks (really we were all Laurel and Micki’s guests in real life, but lucky for us, in bloggyland they get to be our guests)

Laurel’s blocks (she painted hers after we left, and the burgundy blocks instead of the cream really show off the letters and give the blocks a whole different look, Micki’s were painted this color and then distressed)

Sabrina’s blocks

Shannon’s blocks

Trish’s blocks (Teri so loved the cute little bird that she had to copy, but her bird met with an untimely decapitation and subsequent Mod Podge assisted surgery, that’s all she is admitting to at this time)

Rozanna’s blocks

Amey’s blocks (had to include the little strip of wall color at the bottom when editing, because it matches the blocks so well)

Suzanne’s blocks

Jackie’s blocks

Sara’s blocks

Michelle’s blocks

Just an editors note about the pictures. They were taken by different cameras, different photographers and in different lights. I have tried to edit them as much as possible to reflect the creativity of the project.

We hope you have enjoyed our celebration of a simpler side of Christmas decor and crafting. Isn’t it fun how one project can have so many unique looks?

Edited to add parties we are linking up to:

Strut Your Stuff @ Somewhat Simple

What’s Cookin’ Wednesday: Laurel’s Most Famous Chili

2009-12-02T00:01:00.005-07:00

This recipe was given to Micki's mother in law by and old Italian man who worked with her at the school district when her sons were little.

2-15 ounce cans pinto beans in chili sauce (I use the ranch beans with jalapenos and take the jalapenos out so the sauce is spicy)
1-15 ounce can whole peeled tomatoes or diced tomatoes
1-15 ounce can tomato sauce
1-6 ounce can tomato paste
1/4 T cumin powder
1 T chili powder
1 T salt
1 T pepper
1 T sugar
1/2 T garlic powder

Chop 1 large onion and brown with 1 pound hamburger. Drain off grease and mix with top ingredients. I throw it all in the crock pot and set on low for a few hours. That way it seasons well and the onions are soft (my husband doesn't like crunchy onions).

*Edited to add: Teri's family doesn't like it as spicy or salty, so she uses the chili beans in mild sauce and cuts the salt and pepper down to 1 tsp.

Tadpole Tuesday: Micki's Nativity Crafts

2009-12-01T00:01:00.005-07:00

With mom's help with the glue gun my kids made Nativity Kits to proudly display by their trees on their dressers. I personally think it goes nicely with the black tree and the crooked tree. :)
This is what it started as:

This is what it ended up as:

Also participating in Somewhat Simple's Strut Your Stuff Party

Mystery Monday: Christmas Traditions (Teri)

2009-11-30T12:58:00.007-07:00

For Thanksgiving, my family and I got to go home to stay with my parents and have Thanksgiving with my husband’s parents. It was such a great trip. Last week we shared some of our Thanksgiving traditions with you here. This month we are going to share some of our Christmas traditions with you every Monday all month. As mentioned last week, we usually decorate the tree the day after Thanksgiving. Our Dad had the tree up and ready to go when we got there on Wednesday, and then Friday morning while our Mom and I were out snagging some hot deals, my Dad helped the kids decorate with their collections of ornaments. Here are the highlights (I have to show you their house, because I haven’t put up one single Christmas decoration yet).

The tree in all it’s collected-over-the-years glory!

Remember the vintage elves we mentioned here? Here are our two favorites, because of course, they’re twins!!! (they are actually 2 separate elves, but they have never been alone, because we are twins, we make sure the twins always get put together)

What would any family decorated tree be without some homemade ornaments (that’s Teri in about the first or second grade, we only know that it’s Teri because it says on the back….the mouse was made when we were in the Brownies in about the third grade)

Our Daddy’s ornament that we got for him one year, because he was particularly Grumpy that year. He always holds a place of honor on the tree.

Hope you have enjoyed sharing a glimpse into one of our holiday traditions. Now for the mystery:

What are your Christmas tree traditions?

Edited: I'm not sure this really counts as DIY, but I DID make a couple of those ornaments (about a few billion years ago), so that counts right? Linking up to DIY Day @ Kimba's ASPTL

Funky Junk Interiors Christmas tree partyLinking up to Someday Crafts Christmas Traditions party