i'm either the best or worst mom...

i've decided to add this pretty picture of a flowering bush in my back yard just in case some of you are of faint heart and would much rather not continue to read and see some pretty disgusting and dirty things. as this post is full of these things...
consider yourselves warned...
mom that means you.
katie has been regressing in the whole potty training thing because she's had a raw bum, and having a raw bum and pooping don't go well together.

well, pushing out four parasites and having hemorrhoids due to the wonderful experience of birthing them doesn't make pooping pleasant either but this post isn't about me it's about my kids.

so mind you we're in the bathroom and she's screaming like she is giving birth and i'm coaching her as i'm her midwife...i suddenly hear something that make my ears perk.

i hear splashing and laughing...we don't have a pool, or a lake in our back yard (or at least we didn't before yesterday) so i look out the window, and behold this is what my eyes did see:

i mutter "oh holy mother of all that is good"... (catholic background coming out again)
i run outside...leaving poor katie behind in mid breathing exercises...

and i stand there dumb founded. should i of yelled at them? could i stop them? should i of stopped them?

well what i did do is get the camera.

and well some things are for sure...

katie passed something that was the size of a small child and i missed it. (she later came outside and joined by watching from the sidelines)...

the boys are going to have some super awesome memories of growing up together and a lot to tell their therapists.

and my future daughter-in-laws are going to hate me...

because my boys are totally going to think that mom's are suppose to let this kind of behavior fly and laugh like a cackling crazy fool as she runs after them and hoses them down for her own personal "therapy".

(mom if you made it this far...i just want to add that no children were harmed in the making of this blog post and i'm totally kidding about cackling like a crazy fool, i was just chuckling and it really wasn't that great of therapy because they actually enjoyed their mother playing along with them. oh and katie's poop wasn't actually the size of a small child...more of a small rat so that makes it okay for missing it. and she's totally okay now.)

did i mention that i got absolutely nothing done yesterday?

well i didn't.

the heat makes me happy

for those of you who follow me on twitter...you know that i was in vegas with a few of my friends from california (from the old glory days of college) we ate too much, laughed too much, layed and baked by the pool too much...and shopped waaaaay too much, enough that my legs were wobbly and my knee started to hurt.
hmmm, maybe it's just the added years on that last one.
regardless, it was fun and i'm really glad i was given the opportunity to go.
i was a dork and forgot my camera, so yeah no pictures from my camera...but you can see a pic herelast week finally felt like summer here out in the middle of nowhere.

it was hot.

and heat makes me happy.
heat means eating fruit all day long... heat means hanging outside and having to bring out the slip 'n' slide because it's just too hot not to.
and with all the wonderful happiness that the heat brought on last week...
heat means summer inspired projects.
here's to hoping that the heat sticks around.

orange polka dot dress

i'm almost done with katie's new dress. i just have to add the bias tape on the bottom of the dress and attach the skirt slip that will go under the skirt, then i can call it good.

with this dress i wanted to try to learn how to do bias tape and adding it to the neck and arm holes. with every dress or article of clothing i want to learn just a little bit more. i've been meaning to learn this for a while and so i decided it was about time.

the fabric was $2 a yard fabric from walmart (i was too nervous to use the nicer stuff. the bias tape and inside lining was made out my remnants of my thrift sheets).

i didn't use a pattern, the top is close to simplicity 6688 ( i used it for sizing). but i just sort of made it up as i went.

now if i didn't suffer from the disease called: "the inability to make the size that my daughter is right now", she could of worn this right now. but see, i always make (not buy though) things too big for her. she will look super cute in this maybe by the end of this summer, but for sure by next summer it will look great on her.

oh well i guess it's genetic because my mom's been buying clothes for the kids (including socks and shoes) that will fit them in a year or two... since the first day my oldest was born.

some things are hard to shake out of your genetic pool.

spray painting 101

since so many of you expressed interest in my spray painting process...i decided to take the camera with me this time and take pictures.
it's super complicated so watch out.

get you some spray paint. (personally i like the satin the best but the red only came in gloss, and since i roll with the punches...i bought it.)
i buy krylon because it's middle ground in price and it says "indoor/outdoor" and i figure anything that says it can be "outside paint" will probably weather pretty well with the storm that my kids create inside the house.
these metal nesting tins here the right color like 10 years ago.
now i want a more vibrant red and white.

here's the trick.

1. lightly spray over your whole surface. not thick enough to cover it, just enough to make sure you get a base coat

2. let that dry

3. repeat with a light coat again not going heavy on the paint. (this is where you get drips)

4. let it dry

5. repeat these steps till you can not see anything through your paint.

and there you have it the final product.

they are rather plain as they are...i have some ideas as to how i want to dress them up...i'll show you when i finally get the supplies and get working on it.

i'll even post it if it turns out horrific and scares young children.

i also spray painted kate's little high chair for her doll. when you are working with plain wood that has never been lacquered or painted you can just go ahead and spray it. but if it has lacquer then you will need to *lightly* sand to roughen up the surface.

the blue that i chose came out somewhat bright but i'm keeping it like this for a while until it bugs me too much and then i'll spray paint it another color if i have to.

well i totally made my bed yesterday but guess what...the bed gods i guess were angry. my internet was down all the live long day and i *thought* i didn't have anything posting for that day. i figured it's okay i don't need to be in people's face every single day... and when the internet finally started working, i got to my emails and started reading comments on my post and many of you mentioned how incredibly looong this girls camp was...uhhhh...oops. nope, that was last weekend. and i decided not to post the snorting post and use the one that my 9 year old noise maker wanted to do instead...well apparently i put a "post date" on it and well there you go.

my post for yesterday.

i would of posted it but i would of left out the girls camp info on it.

oh well life goes on.

things that make me snort laugh

seriously i love to laugh.
but what i love even more than laughing till i pee my pants, is when my family is right there with me and laughing just as hard.
my kids and i started watching wipeout last year but...let me tell you it just keeps getting funnier and funnier. these last couple of episodes had me and the kids rolling on the floor.

picture courtesy of awkwardfamilyphotos.com

i just recently found awkward family photos
oh my hellvens! talk about laugh till you snort good times! this picture is just one of the oh so many that made me laugh so loud it made my kids run in from the other room.

my kids also love for me to read to them every night. did you notice how i didn't say "i love to read to them" and so if i'm going to be an awesome mom who reads to them its going to be something that is either something i meant to read when i was in grade school but never got around to it, something i kind of want to read but don't know if i can muscle through it (like the harry potter series.), or something that makes me smile and chuckle. 101 Ways to Bug Your Parents was the perfect book to make me chuckle and smile and the boys LOVED it. i'm ordering the next one 101 Ways to Bug Your Teacher. as scary as they sound...they are not that bad and i liked them pretty well.


seriously, i think i've said this before...if i didn't try to look at life in a humorous way and laugh at things...i'd be crying a lot more and who wants to cry when you can totally snort laugh and look at things on the bright side?
have a great weekend!
i'm at girl's camp and will hopefully be alive and well and blogging on monday again... we'll see.

edited:
uh yeah internet down for 15 + hours equals me not being able to get to my post to re-write it. must be almost that time of the month because things like this happen to me right about that time.

google readers you need to change the url in google

hi guys its been brought to my attention that google is going to drop you 900+ people today.
that and for some reason blogger isn't forwarding my old url to the new url.
so switch over to http://www.vanessachristenson.com/ hope to see you there, and hope not to lose any of you. that would not be a happy maker.

in limbo

no i'm not kidding.
this is how katie's room was painted when we moved in. and you are lucky you can't smell through pictures cause it would knock you on your butt.katie's room is 100% better than what it was when we first moved in. but i still feel in limbo with her room. i would love to put up white bead board and paint it a soft cream up above. but just like the rest of the house, we have to save up the money to fix it. a few other projects are in the works before we can get to this one.
since we moved her in her toddler bed i haven't really liked how everything was situated in her room, so last week (during my week off of blogging) i decided that was going to tackle trying to find the "right" place for everything.

i'm still struggling with curtains.

i love how the nester does her curtains, but i'm not sure exactly what i'm going to do. i mean i could do a roman shade or romantic curtains that swoop and hit the ground...i just don't know and so it sits.

i also moved her bed to where her big bed is going to be (its an antique metal frame and trust me i'm excited.)

but for now, her room will stay like this.

at least she seems to really like it.

and for it mainly being second hand and hand made stuff...

i think i can see a pretty cute future when i can spend a little bit of money on it.

to the man i love.

jake,

you are such a great father to our kids.

i love that you will chase rainbows for our kids,

i love that you love to take care of our yard (even when it looks like somwhat of an obession, and i make fun of you relentlessly over it),

i love that you serve quietly without many knowing of your service,

i love that you make me laugh,

i love that our kids think you can do ANYTHING,

i love that I think you can do anything,

i just plain love you.

you are giving our kids a wonderful example of an honerable, hardworking man, who loves his God,family,country, and takes pride is in his work. i couldn't ask for anything better than you. happy fathers day.
i'm glad this year we can celebrate it properly,
all together,
under one roof.

making personal pizza's 9 year old style

so i'm off at girls camp and my 9 year old kid was asking what i was going to do about my blog (didn't know he cared) when i was gone. one question led to another and well here we go: making personal pizza's 9 year old style.
first get english muffins
second get pizza sauce (or spaghetti sauce but don't tell the other kids its spaghetti cause then they will say it doesn't taste right.) and put it on all the english muffins
pre-heat the oven at 400 degrees

then get mozzarella cheese and pepperoni and you are done and ready to put them in the oven.

this is him ready to put them in the oven.. what a goof...i have no idea where he gets his sense of humor from.

cook for 10 minutes and enjoy with some milk and a little bit of spongebob.

i would like to thank the 9 year old noise maker for helping me with my blogging material, especially while i'm gone.

he's a pretty great kid.

and not to mention that this is probably one of the only times you will see "cooking" things on my blog because, i don't cook cause i like it... i cook cause i have to. thankfully that is not going through in message to the next generation. i make sure to put on a stupid smile every time everyone pesters me with "what's for dinner?".

oooh we have us a winner(s)! and some other stuff

oooohweeee! well thank you all for playing! hello to some new names and welcome back to old timer names that i'm starting to know and love! ;)
thank you beki for hosting a lovely lovely giveaway!

using the random number generator, the number picked was:
#69

anne come on down! you are the lucky one this time around!

if you'll give me your email address so that i can give it to beki and she can get in touch with you to send you your lovely little necklace!

and because there were so many of you to enter i'm going to give away an additional three fabric bracelet pdf tutorials to:

#228 ...fairyland who is all the way from cypres (wow!)

#53 k who just celebrated her 10 year reunion from high school.

and

#172 cassidy from honolulu. (totally trying not to hate you.)

if you ladies will give me an email address where i can send you the fabric bracelet pdf tutorial.

and now for the other stuff:

i LOVE all the emails i get with pictures of your cute finished products of my tutorials.

but really, you should have a place to show them off.

sooooo...i made a flickr group named V and Co tutorials where you can show off your lovely bandanna skirts, fabric baskets,fabric bracelets, table cloth skirts...just to name a few!

so go on and saunter on over there and make me proud, upload your pics and lets have fun making stuff together!

also i'm going to start offering advertising on my side bar. it will be located right underneath the blogher ad. if you are interested send me an email:

vanessa.christenson[at]gmail[dot]com. for details.

i'm off for the rest of the week to girls camp for my church. the weather is...uh...not cooperating and i should be looking like a wet rat in about 2 minutes from getting out of the car.

but it'll be fun anyways.

oh and don't forget sunday is father's day.

i have to go and get the perfect gift for the man of the house (aka the cow whisperer.)

..oh i have stories

see you soon!

GIVEAWAY GIVEAWAY GIVEAWAY!

yeah, i know i'm yelling at you but i'm excited.

today's give away is sponsored by the ever talented and lovely Pampering Beki.

giveaway is now closed. thank you!

i just recently found her etsy shop and love love LOVE what she does.

look at these earrings. tell me those wouldn't look fantabulous with my red shoes! ah! i may just have to take those off her site!

a couple of my favorite things in her shop that i have my eye on are this little # that i feel sends a powerful message of "live it,dream it, do it." love that!!

oh and when i play grown up and want to channel Jakie O...the perfect pearl necklace would make me feel oh so classy!

well guess what. beki is willing to GIVE AWAY one of her "blessed" necklace to one of V and Co.'s readers!!

yeah I KNOW!

how cool is that?

pretty darn cool if you ask me.

here's the deal

to enter once:

go to her etsy shop and come back here and leaving me a comment which of her wonderful fantabulous things you love.

for a second chance to win:

blog about it and link back to this giveaway. leave me a comment telling me you did so.

the giveaway will be closed wednesday 11:59 pm mountain standard time. winner will be announced thursday at 10 am.

now go to it!

see you on thursday.

tutorial:make a fabric covered lid for your picnic basket

before i begin...there will be a GIVEAWAY on monday.
yeah you are going to want to come back. with picnic season here...i wanted to take my second hand find and spruce it up to take it out with us on park trips

this little beauty only cost me $3...but the lid was less than desirable so i decided to do something about it to make her even prettier

got some fabric that i thought was kind of picnic-y and would also look good in my home when we weren't using it.

first i went and got batting. i used two layers of it. placed it on top of my basket lid and cut off the extra.

then i traced an oval onto the back of my fabric using my batting i just cut out as the template

then i cut out (i did 2 inches out from my line) the oval i just made. the extra fabric will fold under my lid.

where the hinges are in the back i cut out some of the fabric (not the whole way up leave some to fold under) and i put a little dab of hot glue to make sure it stays put. did this to both hinges.

next i opened the lid and pulled through the fabric so that it was inside

then i placed hot glue onto the fabric.

make your you are caught up on your repentance for swear words cause if you get that glue on you and burn yourself...you will be swearing.

just as a general rule i pray a lot on my knees the hour before i do this just so i have a "savings" of prayer and repentance...just in case.(oh my gosh, YES...i'm joking)

once i got the hot glue on the fabric, i gently pressed onto the back side of the lid to secure.

when i got to the corners i made sure i tugged a little so i got smooth rounded edges

there you have it. not bad for $3

and perfect for in your house or out at a park!

now have a great weekend and i'll see you on monday with a giveaway. WHOOT!

spray painting again

the sun has been peeking its head out it every couple of days. and when it does i try my darnedest to get some painting done.
spraypainting needs to happen when the sun is out and the weather is a little bit on the warmer side.
i've been looking for a container for my daughter's utensils.
with some spray paint, it becomes perfect for her little kitchen to hold all the things necessary to cook up a storm.

i love baskets.

have had this basket a little over 5 and half years, love the basket...but it needed some new paint.and now it fits more with what i'm trying to accomplish with my house...which is...i don't know...i never really know what to call my style.

it's like country meets junk or something but i'm not quite sure what to call it.

eclectic for sure...

maybe eclecjunktry

coincidentally this cream color is what i'm thinking of painting my armiore in my living room.

i'm hoping to do it before the end of the summer.

okay i'm aiming for sooner than that but just in case it doesn't happen any time soon at least i said "sometime this summer" to you guys.