Spruce Cleaning

  I am a habitual list maker.  I have pieces of paper and notebooks in several spots around my house, in my purse, on the fridge, ... the list goes on! that I jot down things that need to be shopped for, handled or planned.  Every summer, especially, I make a list of stuff around the house I am going to get taken care of because I assume I am going to have loads of "free time"....  Make curtains for the bedroom...but wait, I need curtain rods...and fabric...and what size...what color? And don't forget to consider the bedding and walls with these decisions... Now I need to add all of those tasks and concerns to my ever growing lists also. I was reviewing some of my past lists recently, which went back several years, and they all have had the same things on them, every time.  We are still living with the crappy plastic mini blinds in the dining room that came with our house when we bought it a few years back.  The kitchen has several painted blotches of sample colors on the walls from were I decided none were the quite right shade.  The living room walls only have things hanging in the spots that the previous owner decided to put nails.

So utterly unacceptable.

The time has come.  I am making a full fledged commitment to organizing and deep cleaning my house along with getting some decorating projects really completed....really.  I have to cut out or at least back on things that take a hefty amount of my time or I will never get anything completed.  That means I am going to be putting MHICTY on the 'back burner' for a short bit.  I may do a post here or there but nothing with consistency until I make some real headway. I also have got PB's birthday, my wedding anniversary, Hubb's birthday, and some medical stuff all going down in the next 2 months so there's all that too.   I'll be back though with adventures to share in the near future! Hopefully these adventures will involve bedroom curtains and a painted kitchen.

Columbo Party

As I have mentioned, we love ourselves some Columbo around our house.  Last year we had a mini party Columbo style to celebrate 'just one more thing'!

I covered the table in a piece of khaki colored fabric similar to Columbo's signature well worn trench coat.  We had chili with crackers for dinner and drank from Thermos bottles.  Afterwards we played our Columbo board game while enjoying some cookie 'cigars'!

PB dressed for the occasion.
He had gotten a trench coat for Christmas last year along with a vintage stuffed Basset Hound dog...which doesn't have a name, we're thinking about just calling him 'Fido'!

Later we watched one of our favorite episodes, Negative Reaction , which stars Dick Van Dyke!  This episode is one of our fam's top 10 favorite Columbo episodes because of so many great lines, characters, and situations in it.  Our favorite line has to be when Larry Storch who is playing an employee who gives driving tests says to Columbo of the people he evaluates:
"These people mean absolutely nothing to me"
We laugh so much, every single time we watch this episode, from hearing him delivery that line.  We also use this line in our real lives as a comedic way to break the tension.  Let it come to mind the next time you are at the grocery store and there are only two lanes open yet tons of customers.  One lane is full of whining children and the other is full of crabby old folks trying to use expired coupons.  Then think to yourself...These people mean absolutely nothing to me!
It makes me feel a little bit better at least.

Just one more thing....

Will you be my Valentine?

These are the super awesome valentine's day cards I made for PB for fifth grade last year!

Hey Hey! Columbo!

We are major Columbo fans at our house.  I am not sure what it is but when the winter months hit, our fam gets a case of Columbo fever!  Right now in this moment in time we are all walking around the house putting our fingers to our foreheads having a concerned look on our faces and telling each other "These little things... they bother me...and I can't sleep at night." over such things as a missing sock or why New Coke was ever a thing.  

PB is a really big fan and can tell you what season which show is in.  So it was a natural choice for him to have Columbo themed valentines!

I also made some rolled cookie cigars as an accompaniment to the cards.  I had to be a bit sneaky because, well, we don't want to be promoting smoking to children.  The 'cigars' are made from those rolled cookies in a tin which I dipped in chocolate with lit ended sprinkles.  I added extra sprinkles randomly to make them look less cigar-like...kinda maybe not?  I never got any calls from parents so I guess I got away with it!

I found a couple of images of Columbo (with red and pink backgrounds! perfect!) on the nets.  I then came up with four different Columbo-esque Valentine sayings to be printed on them. Here is the set:

We still think it's kinda funny that these ten year old kids got a valentine card with "some guy " on it.  Because we doubt the kids, much less the parents, know who Columbo is! 

For Seriously...We love Columbo.

Happy Valentine's Day!
Go have some chili with your sweetheart!

PB Valentine Cards

Today I thought I would share some of the valentine's cards/crafts that PB exchanged during his elementary school days past.  With him being in middle school now there are no more card exchanges or parties so I have to get my kicks some how. 

I am not going to put up the cards he exchanged for kindergarten.  It is quite embarrassing.  They were just plain store bought deals with a lenticular image of a character from Star Wars. And the worse part was it was Clone Wars!  Ughh.  I didn't know.  I bought them the year before on clearance and thought I was clever for saving 25 cents.

I photographed most of these from his Valentine scrapbook so the candy is long gone, which can make some of the 'cards' look a bit lacking.

First Grade

template here

I pulled together the second most clever Valentine card (in my opinion) for PB when he was in first grade.  He loved collecting the limited series Lego Minifigs (so did Hubs and I as well!)  One of our favs was the zombie one.  I happened to find the image of the trio of zombies on the nets somewhere and  I came up with and added the text. I then cut the edges of the card with a pair of decorative scissors to look like it was kinda chomped on by a few zombies.  For an activity at the class Valentine party I brought a simple craft for the kids to cut out and make.  Lollipops with mustaches for the boys and big red lips for the girls...or which ever one struck their fancy.   I traced the designs out on black and red foam sheets and pre-cut the little slit for the lollipop stick.  All the kids had to do was cut out the outline edge and push the stick through.

Second Grade

 PB was (and still is!) into super heros and comic characters during second grade.

I was lucky enough to find the work already done for me with a template for these cute caped super lollipops.  People, we are talking pre-pinterest days. Of course now these things are all over the place.

Found at zakka life

Third Grade

During this year PB was really into having his own rock band.  Him and Hubs formed the group Kat Kall and performed nightly in the living room.  Again we were doing the lollipop/valentine card deal.  The stick of the lollipop is the arm(?) of the guitar with the candy part behind the paper guitar. I found the template online, the other side of the guitar had the text "You Rock!"  I have tried to find a link to the original template but can only find that it was also a creation of Zakka Life. 

Fourth Grade

During this year, PB really liked my Ren and Stimpy Valentine's cards.  He collects Ren and Stimpy stuff himself.  I bought these when I was in high school and while I don't really want to accept it, they are 'vintage', being nearly 25 years old.  We scanned his favorite ones and printed them on card stock.  We then put them in little clear plastic bags with a few Dum-Dum lollipops, which we thought would be Stimpy approved.

Fifth grade is the best idea I have had and will be a separate post because really...it is awesome.

However here is the valentine's box he made for fourth grade and then added even more to it in fifth grade:

It originally had his name in the speech bubble but I typed over it for this post.
He covered the entire thing with print outs of vintage Super Friends (one of his favorite shows).
valentine cards and stickers.

I liked using the Vans shoe box because of the colors and not covering the words up too much.

Next up is his fifth grade valentine cards...I will brag on myself.  They are amazing.

Valentine Card Swap..Not just for the kids!

I love little valentine's day cards!  Every year I have to check out all the stores to see what cute stuff is available for me , I mean, kids to exchange...this year the winner is Grumpy Cat!

A couple of years ago I thought it would be fun to have a Valentine's Day card swap at my work so I could add to my collection stash and craft up some fun ones for others.  Above is the sign up sheet that I made and printed out.  Part of the deal was of course you had to have something to put your cards in...a mailbox of sorts! I have such fond memories of making a valentine's box from a shoe box when I was in first grade (aluminum foil was heavily involved) and you better believe I was looking forward to making this one too.

Here is what I came up with.  The outside.

The box open and in card receiving mode. 

I scanned several of my Ren and Stimpy cards, printed them out and glued them down.  Along with adding some ribbon and stickers.  Happy, happy, joy, joy!

I had about seven other coworkers sign up, which was not a bad turn out at all.  But truly myself and another work friend rocked this exchange.  Above you can see the ones she made.  Super awesome and glued to construction paper in true valentine card elementary style! She made the Harry Potter one especially for me on the left due to my HP obsession.  Everyone else she gave the "your face is nice" to, but I loved that one also so she whipped up an extra for me! 

These are the cards I made for everyone...creepy and cute!

I had plans on making some cookies with icing spiderwebs and a small spider with a heart shaped body to include but they didn't work out.  I then opted instead for plastic spiders mixed in with little conversation hearts!

Sweet Tooth

These are some crazy cookie bars that I made last year for my favorite dentist office hence the card with the false teeth!

The bars were from a mix but I added sliced almonds, a white chocolate drizzle, and valentine sprinkles to the top.  I am all about 'sprucing up' prepackaged mixes. They turned out great even if they are cavity inducing!

Vintage Valentines

 I have a fairly decent amount of vintage valentines since my mom gave me all of hers from 1960's elementary school years. Above are just a few.

 This is my favorite one from her collection.  Several years ago I used some of these valentines to make these valentine cookies:

*****

I also buy vintage valentine stuff from flea markets and antique malls.  I really like this uncut booklet that comes with envelopes.  It's a DIY kinda thing!

*****

Lastly, I have about 25 valentines from the early 1940's.  Here are a few:

The Ho-Beau is so cute!

I cho-cho-choose you!

 We are some Simpson loving fools in our house.  I have several different collections of Simpsons Valentine's Day cards I have collected over the years.

The cards above I bought in 1994 while in high school.  I am missing a few of the designs and the box.

 These are all "newer" ones.   2007, 2005, and 2001.

 These are the 2005 edition.  

This set has a cute Ralph one saying "Me fail English? That's unpossible!".  Nelson's is the 'Teacher Card' and says "If you know so much, how come they don't pay you more?"  The flip side of these have several cute graphics of various characters.

2007 edition. 

 My least favorite ones. I don't understand what is going on here.  The sayings are dull and the colors and graphics horrible.

2001 edition.  

I love this set!  The front of the box promises "All cards guaranteed to be free of all lame, mushy Valentiney stuff*" however the "* Non-lame guarantee is void in the continental United States, Alaska, Hawaii, and Springfield."  It has a copy of the classic Ralph's "I Cho-cho-choose you" valentine card and he "pickeded" it himself:

But my favorite is the Mr. Burns one:

 More Simpsons stuff below!

Tree House of Horror

Hub's (Doh!) Birthday

Greetings From Springfield
Simpsons Christmas Tree

Be mine!

I thought for this post I would share some of the valentine's cards I have collected over the years.

The first ones are Ren and Stimpy and are some of my favorites!  I bought these not off ebay, but off the store shelf in 1993 and 1994.

 Here are several of them but I am not sure if I have a complete set for each.  After all, I actually gave these out to friends and never considered that I would one day savor 'collecting' them.

 These are some pretty neat Universal Monsters ones I got in 1997.  Again, I gave these out to friends (while in college) and it appears to me that all of the Creature From the Black Lagoons are missing. Hmmmm....

(this and this could be why!)

 These Mucha Lucha guys are so cute!  I can not find a date but I think I got them in 2002 or so.

 Love Harry Potter!  This set is for Prisoner of Azkaban.  I also had Half Blood Prince but used them all when making Thank You cards for PB's Harry Potter Party several years ago.

Cute little Curious George.  These are from 1998 or so.  Remember when they had envelopes?!