Tag Sale Treasure- Whoot!

Anyone who knows me knows that Purcellville’s Town Wide Tag Sale is right up there with Christmas as one of my favorite days of the year.  Coincidentally, I get a lot of my Christmas shopping done being that in my immediate family we have a rule that gifts have to be handmade or second hand.
I didn’t score HUGE this past Saturday like I did last year (Little Tikes Cocoa Cafe for $20? Are you kidding me??)  However, I did add some treasures to my to-be-refurbed stash.
Check out this sweet wooden paper tray I got for a BUCK! 

My refurbishing experience is limited to an owl clock and a mirror I made over for my daughters’ rooms, so this one is a challenge.  The metals pieces are attached with brads, not screws.  Any advice on painting it?  Should I just tape up the metal?  Can you tell I’m intimidated?
I got his dog dish ($3) for our 10 week old golden retriever puppy, Sunshine. 

It’s going to get a Virginia Tech Hokie makeover,…and then we’re going to have to figure out where to put it.
These rainbow glasses ($2) caught my eye, but now I realize they don’t nest inside each other, and that’s a lot of cabinet space.

There were Halloween decorations at almost every sale, and I could literally have bought them ALL!  However, I limited myself to just this cool lantern ($1.50).

The picture doesn’t do this HUMUNGOUS bag justice.  It’s from the Company Store ($3) and  like 3 feet in diameter.  It will easily store 2 king comforters (or a child in timeout.)  : )

The piece de resistance for the day was this Barbie dream house ($30) that I considered saving for Christmas.   That would have been a labor of love, and it was more fun to see the expressions on my girls’ faces when they saw it.  The basket of Barbie accessories ($5) was a separate score.

I was gone for several hours, so Rich took the girls to see Dolphin Tale…like this.  Boots…athletic shorts…t-shirt…hair brushed? 

They came home happy and healthy, so I can’t complain.

Trunk-or-Treat 2010

     On my weekly romp through Joann’s Fabric in mid-October, I came across this red velvety fabric in the clearance bin and thought ‘this kind of feels like a tongue.’  Good thing I was alone because the cartoony light bulb blinking over my head was blinding!  And thus came together the easiest (or simplest is a better word) trunk-or-treat set up ever because I’m NOT a seamstress.  The only setback was the fact that I couldn’t find the quartz doorknob I got at a yardsale for $2 to pierce the tongue with.  It’s probably somewhere with the other items labeled “to be used later in a fabulous project” pile somewhere.

Just your every day face paint

The Rovang household has to start getting out the Halloween decor in Sept. to be completely ready for our favorite holiday.  So when you stumble across some face paint, you have to partake.  It’s good practice- you never know when your entertaining skills will come in handy.  (Just don’t ask me to do Dora!)


In honor of Buffett, and yes, she’s a fan.  She actually knows all the words to “Cheeseburger in Paradise.”  That’s my girl!

Jimmy Buffett 2010!!

Look what I spied with my little eye at a BUFFETT show!!  There are crafty people every where and some of them even know how to party. 


Lots of cars had fins, but this one was the best by far.  It was completely covered in bottle caps.
 
I hope who ever created this uber cool fin already had the caps and didn’t “take one for the team” just to have enough for a perfectly patterned car fin.  I couldn’t get close enough to see what their brand of choice was, but we’re going to assume it was Land Shark.

Of course, my crafty little brain kicked into overdrive.   I think we are going to forego a car fin (seriously, they were all over the place) and instead create a bikini for our Ford F-150.  That’s the plan anyway.

I’m a huge sucker for a big man in coconut shells, but as of this post, I’ve not been able to get Rich interested.

My two sisters and brother-in-law stress-tested our yard swing, and then there’s this little beauty…

Jon’s sweet throw-back ghetto blaster with an iPod dock.  Gotta love ebay!  Between this toy and our Redskin football field beer pong table, we were quite popular…especially with cops!

Buffett, 2011~  You know you want to come!!  (Now go back up and appreciate my crafted Land Shark Beer cap earrings…whatchachow!!)

Glow Babies

Can you guess which is which??

What do you get when you put a glowstick on a string and a camera in a dark room with three kids?...A half hour of uninterrupted entertainment. Savannah proved to have the most party-girl potential. She already has all her rave candy in her dress up bin: fairy wings, sparkly wigs, bubble wrap skirt, she's good. The pictures I got of her "creative" movements lit up the room.

Lexi on the other hand like her big circles which made her look like a Maori hunter, and Madeline mostly just giggled and shrieked "My TURN!!" What made me think one glow stick among three girls would suffice?..

Princess Dragon-Slayer

Who needs a knight when the princess is perfectly capable? For Savannah's 3rd birthday, she wanted a Princess party. We went over-the-top, of course, and her favorite part was slaying the dragon. And she didn't just slay it, she severed its head in two. You may be thinking this a bit macabre, but if you really knew my family...To this day, whenever we go to a birthday party, she always asks if there's going to be a dragon cake.

We practiced this cake (that we stole out of Family Fun, seriously, I haven't had an original idea since 1991), but then Savannah decided she wanted a girl dragon like Shrek. We made it pink with pretty toenails and eyelashes.

...And every princess needs a throne...glitter glue is the best thing ever. Especially Stickles. I look around my house sometimes wondering what I can stickle next....

Guests arrived in full princess attire where there were greeted by big sister Lexi and given a quick "pedicure." (Don't know why the pic is vertical.) Then they decorated pink sparkly wands.

I read the girls the book The Princess and the Pea which ends with everyone realizing she's a REAL princess because she felt the pea under all those mattresses. We played a game to decide if each of the girls was a real princess. They took turns sitting on 2 different pillows too see if they could feel which one had the green golf ball under it. (And we just made sure they were all real princesses.) I continued the story after the game with Savannah as the main character who slays the dragon (the cake) and defeats an evil witch. Thank goodness another big girl sibling was willing to dress as a witch, run around the yard, and let all the princesses chuck tie-dyed water balloons (swirling magic juice) at her. It was a lot of fun, and I had one very grateful Tinkerbell, fairy, magic, mermaid, princess.

How Friends Are Made

Original post date- 2/08

I was on the treadmill today at the gym, getting into a groove when a BIG dude got on the one next to me. I smiled at him and noticed that underneath the belly there was definitely a lurking athlete. He probably played ball in college, but like me, is several years removed. So I was trodding along to "Bring Me to Life" when I looked around and noticed that all the shirt and tie crowd had commuted off to work, leaving me and the dad from "Family Matters."

Although it was like sitting next to a stranger in an empty theater, it didn't get awkward until our feet were obviously CLOMPING in sync. No biggie, let's just kick this baby up a notch. I increased the speed giving my much shorter legs a half step advantage. Before I knew it, we were pacing again. I looked over at him. Was that a smirk on his face? Alrighty, then. Kick it up again….

I was swinging my arms to will my legs to go a little faster, and I guess I let out a little giggle or snort or something because my buddy laughed apparently at me. (Now I know why deaf people make…unusual noises.) I turned down the volume on my ipod just in case, and noticed him increase his speed again to match me.

Oh, it was on like Donkey Kong! I let him sweat a little bit, and then smiling straight ahead increased my speed to an easy run. I use the term "easy" relatively because running hasn't been easy since Mr. Wooldridge's "soccer" camp in 2nd grade. He immediately said, "Oh, hayl!" and started to run too.

Now let me be clear, neither one of us had any business punishing those machines, and there was the definite sound of skin slappin' skin. Coulda been my thighs, although he had just a tad of man-boob…

I had my arms in front of me like a T-Rex, trying to copy Forrest Gump's easy lope. The only person I was fooling was myself! Have you ever tried to suck wind quietly, so no one else would notice how out of breath you are? I was dying!

Next thing I know, one of my arms decided not to play nicely and struck out at God knows what. It caught the cord of my ipod, launched it out of the holder and smacked me right in the face! This threw off my gait, stumbling backward…I braced for the brick column behind me.

Apparently, I was right about Buddy being an athlete because I've never seen such a big man move so quickly. He caught me from falling, and even saved me total humiliation by saying, "I'm so glad you did that, you're killing me!" We agreed that if we meet there every other day at 10 am, we'll be ready for 'Dancing With the Stars' in no time. I didn't know large black men watched that show!

Alas, a friend was made.

My excuse

I thought I might need an excuse as to why I haven't had time to do much scrapbooking (and by "much" I mean "any"). Who can blame me? I think I'm getting the better end of this deal anyway. Especially with our perfect 72 degree weather lately. What kind of mom would I be if I stayed holed up making pages rather than making memories?? (Okay, that's what I tell myself.)

BTW- any suggestions for a princess themed 3 year-old birthday party are much appreciated!

Beamer 1998-2008

My Sweet Beamer Boy,

Had I known it was going to be your last day on Earth, we would have gone to great lengths to make it your very best. We'd ride around town in the bitter cold with all the windows down, so you could hang your head out. We'd fill up the jacuzzi tub with warm water and let you splash and swim, your favorite pasttime.

I would have given you a whole bag of M&Ms because they were always forbidden, and we'd play tennis baseball until I couldn't lift the bat. It wouldn't matter how many sheets you ripped up playing "Hide-the-ball" and "Where's Beamer?"- they'd all be fair game. We'd end your perfect doggie day with you sleeping on our bed with us like you did when you were our only baby. I have a hard time accepting that it was "your time" because it was so short. We love you, Beamer. You'll always be our #1.

Ship Rek-ked

Everybody else is doing it!... I'm so high school, I'll admit it. When all my other friends started blogging their art/crafts/issues/scrapbook pages and in my sister's case- alien experiences, I decided, what the hell? I don't really have any goals for this blog, except to have fun and see where it goes.

So this being my favorite page is where we will begin. My sister and I were in the middle of entertaining our kids playing dress-up when an impromptu photoshoot seemed like a good idea. Who doesn't love pirates, and, as I'm sure you'll see in the near future...Johnny Depp? Arrr we loco??