Thursday Thoughts

I'm linking up with Thursday Thoughts with Ramblings of a Suburban Mom again this morning. 

• We are on another snow day today.  It has been a crazy couple of weeks and so many snow days here. The boys are happy but I think all the parents are ready for them to go back to school.

• With the snow days I've missed some blogging but M and I finally got around to watching the Two and a Half Men Finale.  Yes we are some of the crazy people that stuck with it through all the years.  I still liked the show but I wasn't in love with the finale. I liked seeing all the people back but it was all a little too Meta for me.
• What do you guys listen to in the car? I've been on an audible book routine and keep borrowing them from the library. Of course since the boys are with me I have to keep it kidish friendly so we are working our way through the Harry Potter books and then I'm also working on the Kathy Reichs Viral series which are your YA mysteries.  My boys like both of them and it keeps us all entertained for awhile anyway.  I just can't do music all the time so this is a nice break.
• N and I have to work on a school project today. Technically it is due tomorrow but with the snow my guess is he is not going but we are going to work on getting it done anyway. We have all the things pulled so its just glueing it all together. I'm not bringing him in to work on it no though since we so rarely get snow he can play outside as long as he wants.
• I still want to go shopping and being home isn't helping it. I NEED a day to hit up Nordstrom Rack, TJMaxx, Marshalls, Homegoods, Tuesday Morning etc. I want to get some goodies to freshen up the house. This is going to have to happen soon before I do some online shopping ;)

Are you guys snowed in today? I know some of you get so much snow but down here this is very exciting.  Have a great Thursday,

Jenny

Monday Morning Musings

Wahoo both boys are in school today :)  With last weeks snowy and icy mess this is the first time since last Monday that has happened.  I like being in our normal routine so this makes me very happy. Of course the morning after the Oscars is always rough since I have to stay up and watch them even though I haven't seen many of the movies. LOL

We didn't do a ton this weekend. Friday was my mother-in-laws birthday so we had dinner with her and my bro and sis in law and family.It was really good and my boys had a playing.  Then Saturday I had a girl day and went scrapping with friends. I took my Twilight convention pictures since its a self contained type of project and got a lot of pages done.  Sunday we stayed around the house and picked up and worked in the playroom some more. We also spent time getting ready to go back to school.

This week looks pretty normal. Hopefully school goes all week and then N has pictures on Wed and I'm volunteering to count box tops that morning. M doesn't have any shows this week so he will be around at night too which is always fun. I'm sure he boys will be playing lots of Madden since N used some of his birthday money to buy it for the playstation and its all he wants to play now.  He keeps spouting out football facts like I have any idea what he is talking about.  I just say a lot of yeap and cool and he goes about his researching. LOL

So speaking of the Oscars what did you all think? I thought it was pretty good. I love NPH and I think he did a good job.  I was a little worried when I knew Lady Gaga was performing but I didn't know what she was doing. I'm not a huge fan of hers but I think she did a great job with her tribute and I'm glad she played it straight and just sang the crap out of it.

And another very random but when I went to look for pictures for my post this morning I realized expect for the scrappy pages I did and some toys I'm selling I really didn't take any. The only one I have is this one of some lettuce my sister is growing at my house :)  It's for one of her classes so I send her a picture every couple of days. LOL  oh and with pictures do you all have Timehop app? I love looking at it each day and sharing sometimes but when I looked today I have no pictures for any year for today.  Hmm pretty sure I need to make sure and take a picture of something today so that I will have some next year. ;)

There you go some very random ramblings this morning. How was your weekend? What are you up to this week?

Have a great one,

Jenny

Thursday Thoughts

I'm linking up with Thursday Thoughts with Ramblings of a Suburban Mom this morning. 

Hi everyone!!!  Here in NC as you can guess we don't get much of a winter like some of my northern friends but this is our week for snow and ice.  We get mostly ice which is way worse then snow and causes us to be out for days on end.  This day 3 of ours snow days and I'm not holding out hope that they will be going tomorrow.  I am not complaining though since I totally understand that the school system needs to make sure the whole county can get to school and not just my little side of the world ;)

Heading out for the first rides

With the snow days I've been able to finish the book I started on Valentine's day Kresley Cole's Dark Skye and let me say it was really good.  I love her Immortals after dark series and this was a great installment. 

back at it on day 2

I have not since everyone has been here been able to watch all of my shows.  I'll have to work on catching up with those once people go back to school next week. 

In reading Jen's linked post I realized I haven't been to Target's Valentines clearance yet either. Since not many people are actually going out and doing anything here I'm hoping they still have a good selection since I totally plan to hit up Target tomorrow. I'm also hoping that things have gone to 90% off since that is when I like to buy.  I don't really need anything but you know I have to at least look.

day 3 and C throwing snowballs at M

Even though we have been home I'm really feeling the NEED to go to the movies. I still want to see 50 shades and now I want to see The Duff. It looks like an awesome highschool type movie and right up my alley. M actually doesn't have any shows next week so I may sneak away one night and try to hit one up.

fancy hotel is the best game ever

So this picture needs explanation.  My boys play with the neighbors girls all the time and I always laugh when they come over since one of their favorite games is Fancy Hotel and that first involves cleaning the boys rooms. Once they clean the rooms they then play hotel and run up and down the stairs checking in and serving rooms service etc.  I'm pretty sure fancy hotel is my favorite game ever. ;)

So besides them calling for the coldest its been here since 1996 tomorrow morning we are making the best of our winter but I'll be ready or a normal schedule next week.  How are you guys dealing with the winter weather?

Have a great week,

Jenny

TV Talk Tuesday

WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW - ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!

Since we are on a snow day today M has he boys outside sledding on the ice and I'm inside watching TV :)  So it is a perfect time for some TV talk.

I'm starting with Castle. Does anyone watch this? I've watched from the beginning and I still enjoy it every week but last nights episode was WOW!!!  OMG it was so intense and so so so good. It was easily the best episode in a couple years.  I will say that so far having Beckett and Castle married hasn't slowed down the show. You know how sometimes when they finally really get the couple the show just stalls? Not on Castle it has been one thing after another on that show.

Now onto my normal Walking Dead talk.  This week was a bit or a different episode. It was slower then it has been recently but that isn't a bad thing. It also showed that things can get really bad really quick and that its not just walkers that they have to deal with but they have to deal with the elements too.  As I've said before I didn't read the comics but I loved Rick's speech and from what I hear it was pretty much from the comics. It was pretty on point. And can we talk about the tornado.  It is so crazy how they can pick one thing and leave another and it was almost like a gift from god that it took out a ton of walkers for them but left their little barn in tack.  And can we talk about Aaron? I have no idea who he is but I'm guessing he has something to do with the DC area that they are trying to get to.  He was very clean looking so in this world that is a bit of a red flag and I can understand why they don't trust him right off.

Oh my the Vampire Diaries was also good this week. I mean you really needed to watch with some tissues in hand. Not only did we loose Sheriff Forbes but  Jeremy left town too. Granted he really hasn't had much of a story lately it was still emotional and I love how Alaric really gets him and set him up to do some hunting. I thought it was odd that he was going to art school like Elena thinks so the ending works out perfect.  This also leave openings for him to come back eventually if he ever wanted/needed to.  Uhm and wouldn't it be great if Alaric and Jeremy hooked up to do some hunting together? oh and they could meet up with my Supernatural boys ;)  Well a girl can dream. LOL

I hope everyone has a great week and watches good TV.

Talk soon,

Jenny

Monday Morning Musings

I'm enjoying my last few minutes of quiet while both boys are in school.  C gets out at a normal time and then N gets out early in anticipation of the snow/sleet/ice mix we are going to get this evening into tomorrow which means he will probably be home tomorrow too. We are not equipped for bad weather down here in NC and so when we do get it we miss some days especially if its really icy. Now onto last week and what else for this week.

This is how C plays. He is my kindof OCD kid so he puts things in lots of lines. This is where he made a movie theater for his Minecraft characters. LOL They spent time watching you tube videos.

Valentine's Day morning we went to Toys R Us to use some of the boys birthday gift cards.  C only ended up getting one Disney Infinity character but we had to look at everything.

That night M had to work a concert so I sat in front of the fire and started my book. I got it for Christmas but hadn't read it yet.

Of course when you stay up way to late reading a good book it is easy for the boys to talk me into going to Taco bell for lunch the next day.  I don't mind tacobell but 11am is a little to early for me to be eating it. LOL

Oh and my fun last week was a girls night out to see Dancing with the Pros.  We then had meet-n-greet passes so we got to get a great picture with some of the cast.  It was such a fun show and we had a blast.

This week is all about the cold weather and the snow here.  I have no idea what we will be doing since it is all weather dependent.  I'm sure to share tons of pictures on instagram if you want to follow along HERE.  

Let me know what your week looks like. Are you getting more snow this week too?

Have a great one!!!

Jenny

Ipsy February 2015 Bag Review

disclaimer: This post contains a referral link for Ipsy and if you joining through me I will get credits for future goodies.

I was so excited to see my hot pink Ipsy mailer in my box today. There was no flyer in my bag this month but the theme was #ipsylove and again my bag was really full and heavy. This makes me really excited.  Thanks again Mommysplurge for the Ipsy love.

My bag of Ipsy love this month.

• City Color Cosmetics Creamy Lip Stain in Flirtini ($4.99) - this is a cute tube and color but I'm more of a gloss girl and this is a little thick for my taste and everyday use. I might keep it for days I want more color and add a gloss over or I'll pass it on to someone who uses more of a stain.
• Mitchell and Peach Fine Radiance Face Oil (I can only find the cost in British pounds so I didn't convert it) - I'm sure this is a fine product but I'm not a big face oil person so I'll be passing this along too.
• Emite Makeup Professional Eye Lash Curler ($25) - This really makes the bag for me.  Ipsy has been sending these out for the last couple of months and I've really been wanting one. I've never really used an eyelash curler before but I'm kindof feeling like I should be so its one of those things I think about and never bought.  I'm so excited that I finally got it.  PS they also sent some refill pads in the pack. I'm not sure if the original comes with any but the refills are $3 so woohoo.
• ModelCo Blush Cheek Powder in Cosmopolitan ($18) - I'm a blush lover and I know I said not long ago that I feel like I haven't gotten many blushes in my bags and all of a sudden I have a ton of blushes but I do love this brand and I'm loving this pinkish color.  I will be trying this out in my blush rotation.
• Eva NYC Up All Night Volumizing Spray ($10) - I've never tried this brand before but I'm all into texture sprays recently so I'm excited to try this one out.

I'm happy with 3 of my 5 items this month and really the items I don't really care for are great items just not for me .  The value was definitely there especially since Ipsy only cost $10 a month plus tax in some states.  I'm beyond excited for the eyelash curler and really that made the whole bag to me.

And another big Thank you to all who have joined through my link since I was again able to cash in some of my points for extra goodies in this bag which is why my bag was so heavy and full and made opening it up even more fun.  Here are all the things from past boxes I got in addition to my above items this month. Here's a picture of the items that have been in past bags that I was able to cash in my points for.

Did any of you get an Ipsy bag this month?  Did you love it? 

I hope you all enjoyed Ipsy this month,

Jenny

disclaimer: This post contains a referral link for Ipsy and if you joining through me I will get credits and cash them in for extra goodies as you can see above..

Happy Valentine's Day & My Paper Pumpkin January 2015 Review

Happy Valentine's Day everyone.  

Did you guys make cards with your kids?  I have always made something with my boys classes and when we started talking about it this year N said we are making our gifts aren't we?  So off to think of ideas I went.  It just so happened I had an idea and I got the January My Paper Pumpkin kit and was able to incorporate them both.  Take a look at the review and info below.  Enjoy!!!

Isn't it cute?  They ask that we don't send candy into either of my boys schools so I always try to think of something besides pencils.  However I really  need to think about these ideas when the back to school clearance is going on as it would save a lot of money.  Hmm maybe I should add a note to my planner ;)

Now onto what we used for the project.

We started with the glue sticks and then I used Stampin' Ups digital software My Digital Studio and pulled a cute tag from the More Amore digital download.  It is valentinsish without being too girlie as N told me.  We had thought to hang the tag from the glue stick with some bakers twine but as you can see when I printed them on my computer they were a little big. N loved this size though so I thought a minute and remembered the My Paper Pumpkin kit.

This is the January My Paper Pumpkin kit. As you can see it is pretty different from what we ended up with.  I was already to use these and redo what we had started but N thought these were a little too girlie and he thought he gold binder clips might fall off so I kept the extras and just used the bags and the bakers twine for our project.

A work in progress.  For the bakers twine I pulled out a retired Stampin' Up punch that has two little circles in it. This made putting the twine through the bag and tag easy.

Here are all the extras I have from the My Paper Pumpkin kit.  I will use some in my monthly albums and I'll add the binder clips to my embellishment box for future projects.  I also keep all the  My Paper Pumpkin stamps and inks in clear stamping cases. Having all of the little ink spots is nice to grab when I'm going crafting out. I do not have all our colors but I have a nice assortment to work with without taking all my large ink pads with me. 

And here we are a class worth of Valentine's goodies.  It was great that the  My Paper Pumpkin kit was set up for 24 bags and Ns class only has 22 kids in it so we had plenty to go around. For Cs class we did the same thing except we just glue dotted the tag to the glue stick since he didn't have to carry them around with him as much.

My Paper Pumpkin is it is a monthly subscription box from Stampin' Up that will send you a project box each month with cards or another project that can be completed in about 30 minutes.  The cost of the box is $19.95. If you are not ready to sign up for a monthly box you can now purchase a set 1,3,6,9 or 12 month subscription. These prepaid months will need to be placed through my Stampin' Up store http://www.stampinup.com/ECWeb/ItemList.aspx?categoryID=1444&dbwsdemoid=94340  this will give you the prepaid options. And to add to all the excitement right now if you decide to do a 3 month prepaid subscription you get $5 off and since we are currently in Sale-a-bration you will get to choose a free item from the Sale-a-bration catalog.  Sale-a-bration and the special run though March 31st.  This is our most popular promotion of the year so don't miss out.

Did you make any crafts for Valentine's Day this year? Post a link below and I'd love to check them out.

Happy Valentine's Day and

Happy Crafting,

Jenny

Thursday Thoughts

I'm linking up with Thursday Thoughts with Ramblings of a Suburban Mom this morning. 

• Why do I always wait until the last minute for Valentine's cards.  Well it wouldn't be an issue if we did ones you bought at the store but since we are making ours it will be a long day. N did his part already so now I just need to finish them up. (They look awful cute though :))
• It is getting really cold here this weekend.  Hard to believe it was 72°F here last Sunday when this Sunday they are saying it won't get out of the 20s.  Brrr
• I need a new pair of jeans.  Just like nice everyday jeans. I normally get Lucky jeans and they fit me really well. Does anyone have any others they love?  
• C got giftcards for his birthday and it is all he can talk about.  If I have to tell him how many days until Saturday and we can go to Toys R Us one more time today and its only 9am.
• I have a girls night out tonight to go and see Dancing with the Pros. I'm excited to see the dancing but I'm really excited to see Alan Thicke host.  Reminds me of watching Growing Pains all those years ago (yes I am that old ;))

So I'm off to work on the Valentines.  Have a great Thursday everyone!!!

Jenny

TV Talk Tuesday

WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW - ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!

TV time again. Let's just right in and there are spoilers down there today so you are warned. :)

So let's start with the big return this week and the Walking Dead.  It was a bit of a departure I think from their normal episodes and it was a bit slower but it was so well told and done that I'm in the love it category. I am so sad to see Tyreese gone but I do understand that it moves the story along.  The episode also brought up some interesting things that I'm sure we will come across as the show goes on like what was the deal with the torsos in the truck? The bottom half of the walkers were back just outside the fence but the torsos were in the truck. That is really weird and I'm pretty sure we will be revisiting that sometime and it was just a tease now but still odd.  I also wonder how many little neighborhoods they will come across that really tried but just couldn't make it work.  We haven't seen many that have actually walled themselves in and made a run at it and none that we have seen have worked. I get that they are going to Washington and I'm wondering if being that is a bigger scale place that it is working out and how well it is actually working out.  I'm so glad this show is back.

Let's talk last weeks Supernatural.  Who didn't love seeing a young Dean? It was both funny and weird at the same time.  I do love that he had kept his mind so that they knew what was going on but he was a teenager.  Too funny.  The episode was pretty stand alone in nature and didn't do much to work on the overlining arc of the season but it did bring in a bit of the Rowena story so they tied it in that way.  I will say my favorite part of the whole episode might just be the very end when Taylor Swift came on the radio and Dean just kindof smirked when he didn't let Sam change the channel. Music is such a big part of the show that I thought that was so funny.

I love HGTV and really any of the redo shows and with Love It or List it filming close to me I'm loving watching it.  Since the shows normally film in bigger cities the price of the houses they show is always like you have got to be kidding me but being local it's a little more realistic to me. It also has the styles that are a little more me then some of the other locations.  Now if we can get Property Brothers down here I might have to stalk the filming. :)

So those are my random shows this week.  What are you watching and loving?

Jenny

Monday Morning Musings

Morning everyone!!! 

• Today is Cs 4th birthday. I'm so not sure how my little man has gotten so big.  Time really does fly.

• Speaking of his birthday we had some family over for dinner last night and he said he had to have a picture with everyone.  He is such a ham.

• I really think the most exciting thing that happened this weekend was that we worked on the playroom and got it in a more manageable look.  Here is the before and after :)  You can see it really did need some help. At least I was able to get rid of some of the big plastic toys.

• The weather was AWESOME here in NC this weekend. We were able to be outside without jackets and just play and play.

• Oh and totally not weekend related but when I was at Target the other day I was walking around and saw the Lipsmakers end cap and I got a little sad since we don't really know what will happen to the lines.  They did however have 3 of my beloved Dr. Pepper Lipsmackers so I had to grab all 3.  

• So what are you guys planning for this week?  Both my boys have school so we will be here and around town. No real plans other then normal week stuff.

Have a great week everyone and Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Jenny

Stampin' Up Sale-a-bration 2015

Starting off the second month of Sale-a-bration!!!

For every $50 in Stampin' Up products you purchase you can get a free item from the Sale-a-bration brochure. This is my favorite sale of the year. Check out the available free items here 

http://su-media.s3.amazonaws.com/media/catalogs/2014-2015/2015_SAB/20150106_SAB_en-US.pdf 

And the head over to my site to order your goodies today www.jennylouthan.stampinup.net 

and since I've posted about my kits before there is also a My Paper Pumpkin Special during Sale-a-bration.

Right now you can get $5 off a 3 month subscription to My Paper Pumpkin and you will get to select an item from the sale-a-bration catalog. This is AWESOME!!! http://www.stampinup.com/ECWeb/ProductDetails.aspx?productID=137859&dbwsdemoid=94340 

Happy Crafting!!!

Jenny

Thursday Thoughts

I'm linking up with Thursday Thoughts with Ramblings of a Suburban Mom this morning. 

• So I keep seeing commercials for the DVD release of The Best of Me movie and it says with an all new storybook ending. Does this mean they changed it from when it was in the theaters? It just seems like a really odd thing for them to say. I hadn't seen the movie but I kindof want to know what is different.

• My phone was acting all wonky and when we looked I had a ton of cache used up so M cleared it. And you guessed it not a great idea. My games weren't working right and my photos no longer would sync. I tried all sorts of things to get it to work and then tonight by some weird reason my phone beeped and when I looked it had synced my pics for the last week.  Hmm I wonder if it will continue.
• Can I ask how in the world my youngest is going to be 4 next week? He is still my baby and I can't believe he only has one more year until he goes to kindergarten!!!! There is just no possible way.

• Ikea has the Raskog carts marked down to $29.99 and I'm pretty sure I need another one or two ;)  My boys are using the one I got as an art cart and I think I really want one for my scrapbooking room.

• Ugh I feel like the walking dead this morning.  Good thing C and I are planning on staying in. I'm so tired today for some reason.  We may need a nap.

Well I'm off to see what we can get done today. The prospects are not looking good. 

Happy Thursday,

Jenny