Children Inspire Design

Hands down, this has to be one of my favorite companies for children's art work prints.

Children Inspire Design is totally up my alley - bright colors, funky patterns and fun prints. I have these prints in our game room and I just ordered some for the nursery, plus I have used them for Miss A's chic farm party.

Here is the game room.....

And here is the banner from A's party...

In a couple of days, these prints will be added to my collection:

Normally, I am NOT a fan of decorating with words, but I guess every rule has an exception. (I have lots of crazy and wacky "rules" for decorating, but that is a whole other post.)

And I am loving these 2 prints. I really want this alphabet for the nursery, but will wait and order it once we know if Baby M2 is a boy or girl.

And these planet prints are wonderful.

Right now you can order these wonderful prints for a great price at Zulily...

Nap Time, Craft Time

If you don't have kiddos in carseats, then you might as well quit reading now. But, if you live in a hot climate and have a car seat in your car then you have this problem - HOT metal and plastic carseat parts that can burn bare legs. Unless you have the gadget that can remotely start your car, then it is impossible to cool down the car prior to putting the kid in the carseat. So, I whipped up this neat little sun shade to solve this problem.

Exhibit 1:

Normal carseat exposed to the blazing heat

Exhibit 2:

Carseat covered up with a sun shade

Now, doesn't that look like a nifty little gizmo?

All of the metal and plastic parts are safely covered.

I lined the back of my sun shade in brown fabric, so it would match the pink and brown carseat.

I love that I can just roll this up, keep it in the backseat and always have it on hand.

Want one? $10 + shipping. Shoot me an email - mrspreppy@gmail.com

Booked!

Right now I am counting down the days until I will be here....

Ahhhh... the beach.

I love everything about the beach. The sound of the waves, the smell of the ocean, the wet sand on my toes and most of all - the tan I will get. Normally I would say having a cocktail on the beach, but this summer I will have to skip that little luxury.

I know the blog world is full of people that have vacationed in this part of FL/live here/of have houses here. Therefore, pony up some information!

Where do you like to eat? Where should we shop for groceries? Any fun things we have to do? What are toddler friendly activities around the area? We will be there mid-August.

Happy Birthday to ME

Happy birthday to ME!

I have always loved having a summer birthday. When I was younger, I never had to go to school on my birthday and I could always spend the day doing whatever. I always had pool parties and spent the day outside in the sun.

Well, on my last twentysomething birthday, I will be doing the exact same thing.

Started the day off with a huge fountain Diet Coke...spent all morning playing with Miss A in the pool...Chick Fil A for lunch and now I am headed back into the pool. Tonight we are having a birthday dinner and hopefully my annual birthday cake.

Not such a bad way to start off the last year of my twenties.

And on the subject of turning 30... at least I have 1 more year until I have to face that reality.

Hey Good Lookin', What Ya' Got Cookin

Last night I made a Mexican pizza for dinner. We had had grilled chicken salads the night before, so it was a great way to use the rest of the ingredients.

I had in mind a corn crust, but could not find the Pillsbury tube of corn twists.... so, I just substituted crescent rolls. I rolled them out and made a rectangular crust, and then baked it for a couple of minutes. While that was baking, I mixed together some black beans and a can of Rotel, to use as the pizza sauce.

After baking the crust for a couple of minutes, I spread the beans all over the crescent rolls and then topped it with the cilantro lime chicken, bell pepper, purple onion and cheese.

I served it with sliced avocado and a side of Spanish rice. I made it up as I went along, just using ingredients we had on hand and it was a keeper of a recipe!

Wild Weather

Mother Nature is on a roll. Last night we had some fierce weather and spent the lots of time in our closet under the stairs and trying to get weather updates TV.

Miss A thought we were having lots of fun playtime in the closet... she was a trooper throughout the entire evening.

Call me crazy, but if we are having to seek shelter from the weather, then I want the pets there with us. I was running around the house like a crazy lady searching for Steve, all the while the storm sirens are sounding. We finally found him (hiding under A's crib) and then we headed to the closet. He immediately darted to the back corner and was fine. Jake (the pup) was a nervous wreck. He did not want to come into the closet and he was not a fan of the confined quarters. So, here we all are. I was on the phone with my dad because the satellite had gone out and Mr. was trying to look up weather stuff on his phone.

At some point we were in the closet and heard the TV come back on. The satellite was working again, so we immediately tried to turn on our local ABC channel to see what the current conditions were like. Yet, we could not find out if we were about to be swept away because they were still airing Dancing With the Stars.

Yes, WFAA Ch 8, was running a season finale of a dancing competition show versus important weather information. Explain that one to me.

The chief meteorologist tweeted later on in the night, making it seem as if this was a higher up network decision.

Either way, it seems foolish and irresponsible.

Goodbye Oprah

I have always loved Oprah.

She came on at 4 and everyday after school I would watch her while I was working on my homework or having an after school snack. Granted, not all of her episodes were right up my alley, but I still watched them. I now tivo each and every episode and usually watch them at night as I am falling asleep.

Her show has been on the air for 25 years. Granted, I have probably not been watching her all of those 25 years, but she has been on the air most of my life. And she will be missed.

The Mr. thinks I am silly for saying that I am going to miss her, since she now has her OWN network..... But, it will not be the same. Yes, I am an emotional pregnant sap that loves Oprah.

Round and round

Designers hate them.
Homeowners love them.

Ceiling fans.

I don't know about you, but we have them in almost every room in our house. They run year round and they help me sleep each and every night. The hushed whisper of the blades is wonderful, as is the cool It it pushes down into you.

You know what really stinks? When the fan in your bedroom is not working correctly. URGH! It is driving me crazy. "High" is not very high and it is making a crazy ticking sound.

So, this is now things have been playing our for me... I fall asleep with the TV on (because the noise of the TV cancels out the annoying ticking coming from the fan) and then I sleep for a couple of hours. Until, the crazy dog wakes me up to let him outside. I take him outside and then come back to bed and try to fall back to sleep. Most of the time I am able to pass back out. BUT there are those times that I am in bed - just listening to that annoying ticking. Counting the ticking. Imagining that the ticking talking to me. It is making me crazy. (Because anything normal can make you crazy in the middle of the night)

I then head up to the guest room - turn the fan on HIGH - and quickly fall back to sleep.

This damn fan is making me lose my mind and we have to get it fixed. Soon!