Home...sans luggage :(

Well, I just got back from visiting my husband in AZ for a week...last night was ridiculous airport hell. The  flight into Tucson was late, therefore our flight out of Tucson was really late - which made me miss the flight back to Sioux Falls. United put me up in a room and gave me a voucher for one meal, but then the shuttle to the hotel was an hour wait - plus the 45 minute ride to the hotel! Oh, and then about 5 other flights got messed up last night about the same time so EVERYONE was trying to go to the same hotel and check into the same hotel...awful.
I finally got to sleep (sorry, but Sleep Number beds are way too complicated) and woke up early this morning to get back to the airport so that I WOULD NOT miss my flight. I went and hung out at the Rocky Mountain USO - so nice! - boarded my practically empty flight back to Sioux Falls, went downstairs to see my mom waiting for me - and NO BAG! Seriously?!?!
That was 12:30, I put a claim through with United, supposedly my bag had other ideas and decided to vacation in MSP...nice. I just hope that by the time it shows up, my stuff is still there - that is EVERY cute summer outfit I have - not to mention all my makeup!
I am just thankful that I decided not to take Oakley on this trip....that would have been bad.

the one and only ... michael buble!

In an attempt to get my mind off the fact that my husband and I have been apart now since Oct. '09, I decided that a girls weekend was in order. Now, I am not one that has a huge gaggle of girls that I hang out with all the time...in fact, I very rarely hang out with anyone other than my family (some say that's sad, but that's just been my whole life). So, when I heard Michael Buble was coming to Minneapolis/St. Paul, I knew exactly who I would go with - my mom and my aunt Cathy!
Cathy had a heart and kidney transplant 2 years ago and we hadn't had a girls weekend since about 6 months before that, so we were all definitely due...
The weekend consisted of shopping, eating(!), shopping, eating, and going to see Michael Buble.

Now even though Cathy has been through the craziest surgery ever, she still has random fears that no one understands...one of those being a fear of walking down balcony stairs scared that she is going to fall and fall all the way down to the lower level...right, completely rational. So we get to our (awesome!) seats and she cannot bring herself to walk down the stairs - all the way through the opening act - Naturally 7 - AMAZING group! Eventually, after a bit of waterworks on my part and some buddying up with the ushers (Tom H - you rock!), she got down there, and the concert was unbelievable!
And I cried - Home...never really paid attention to the lyrics until I am belting them out with Michael Buble, bawling my eyes out! lol. If you haven't heard the song, definitely check it out!
Here's a picture of us girls after the concert!

a little behind...

I sort of fell behind so I will go back a few weeks/months and work my way forward....

Starting with...
CUPCAKES!
So, we all know I have an obsessive love affair with cupcakes and awhile ago I decided to make a batch (not sure even what for, possibly just that they are delicious).
My favorite cupcake recipe uses the Pillsbury Wedding Cake Recipe - some of you may have seen this recipe before, and some of you may be using the stock box recipe (ick). The recipe is as follows:

"Wedding" Cupcakes

1 pkg. Pillsbury Moist Supreme White Cake Mix

1 1/4 cups water

1/4 cup canola oil

3 egg whites

Heat oven to 325°F. Place cupcake liners in 24 wells of cupcake tin. 

Mix cake ingredients according to package directions. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full. 

I also like to use this recipe to make two-layer 6-inch cakes...they are so cute and they taste good too!

By the way, Oakley also really loves cupcakes...

A new home for recipes

So, for the past who-knows-how-long I have been collecting recipes that I want to try, have tried, should try, etc. I first started putting them in a notebook, but then once the internet became a recipe madhouse, that wasn't really working. So, I moved on to Word docs...that's a lot of huge files - NOW there is YummySoup! I love this program and it is totally worth the $20 download if you're a foodie like me!

With YummySoup! you can search, sort, and view in full-screen for bringing the Macbook in the kitchen:

Another great Disney deal

I actually tried this one first before posting...
Toy Story 1 and 2 Blu-Ray combo packs together for 16 bucks and change!
Head on over to my friends at Sweet Deals 4 Moms and check out the great deal!

Princess + the Frog...an update

Well, my Target didn't fall for it...they wouldn't let me use both coupons - darn...
They did, however, run the $10 coupon for only the $15.99 DVD version...
$6 bucks isn't bad for a Disney movie that just came out today!

Princess + the Frog

If you're like me and plan on buying the new Disney princess movie this week, here are a couple of deals you need to see!

$10 off

+ another $5 off!

...at Target, I believe that makes the Blu-Ray under 5 bucks!!

Happy shopping!

(Thanks to Sweet Deals 4 Moms and Deal Seeking Mom for finding these!)

So exciting: Jean Paul Gaultier for Target

Well, my hard work of staying up, then passing out because I was just too tired, then randomly waking up at 2am paid off!! My awesome JPG for Target goods are on their way to my house!

The yellow dress above is one of them!! So cute! I can't wait to wear it in sunny AZ when I go to visit Jeff this spring! I would suggest that you all go and check out the line, but it looks like the majority of the line is now sold out.

In the Army Now...

I finally finished my first big project - a military jacket for Oakley to match Jeff's new ACUs.
Jeff even ordered a name plate to make it official. Oakley worked with Jeff at the recruiting office this week "in uniform" and was pretty proud of himself...well, he should be, he was promoted from 2nd Lt. to a 1-star general in a matter of a few hours...

Oakley is still a mama's boy though, he wanted to escape to the rest of the mall and go shopping...

My first real project!

So, I have been planning this one for about a week and finally got to do it! I found a cute little jacket at Petco for Oakley and when I saw it, I knew immediately that I wanted to make it into a little Olympics track jacket...mission accomplished.

I initially thought I would just get some iron-on letters and call it done, but apparently it is not particularly advised to iron on this velour type of material. So, I talked to the awesome Sara over at Heirloom Creations and she told me that I could just make my own!
I used the Quickcutz Silhouette to design and cut out the template for my letters.

Then I used some web interfacing (first time!!) and ironed it to the fabric (wrong-side...very important!).

Then I sewed around the letters with a straight stitch (that looked surprisingly good!) and it's done!!! Oakley is so excited to wear it and I can't wait to say that I made it (def. better than those darn iron-on letters!)

Hope for Haiti

Please go to iTunes and pre-order the Hope for Haiti Now album...all proceeds go to Haiti...those people need our help....

Finally...

The closet had a full washer and dryer in it...

The craft room/office is finally finished!! The new sewing machine is in place and although it is a full room, I think it is going to work great! 

I thought I would take a few pictures to show you...

Here is BEFORE (well, way before, this is what it looked like before we moved in):

And here is today. About 2.5 years after we bought the house, I am finally happy with the craft room, for now anyways...

terrifying and sad...

Haiti, you are in our hearts....

I did it!

Well, I officially taught my first lesson today.
The Astronomy/Meteorology crew learned about atmospheric pressure today and built their very own barometers!! One student said it was a buzzkill...gee, thanks...but that was because that certain individual could not figure out how to keep liquid in a straw - don't we all do this at McD's occasionally? Anyways, I got my first one out of the way, and now I can move on to bigger and better!

Also, off topic, I went to see Karl Mecklenburg (used to play for the Denver Broncos) speak at the Pavilion tonight. He talked about goal-setting, leadership, and being successful in life. It was very interesting and I am so glad I went!

oakley

This is Oakley...

Super funny story about his new boots. Jeff and I were in the Twin Cities before he had to head back to Benning and we stopped at a few of our favorite stores before he had to go. One of them, on Grand Avenue in St. Paul, had a whole selection of dog boots (which we have been searching for for a while!)...Jeff was determined to get a pair (quad??) and worked with the saleslady to find the perfect pair. Oakley finally got a set on and walked around the store in them for about 20 minutes...when I realized that the boots he was wearing were 90 DOLLARS!! Okay, I often don't even spend that on me...so for the dog?!?! We decided against them at the time and took them off. Poor O stood by the display and wouldn't budge...he WANTED those shoes! Poor thing...
new boots from Kaci W on Vimeo.

After doing some searching online I found them on ebay, brand new for 40 bucks...

the beginning

let's try this again...

the wedding website has been closed since Oct. 2008...and now I am going to try to find enough time to do this again! I am obsessed with reading blogs from all over so I am hoping that mine becomes something that others find helpful and want to read...