I have moved!!

My blog is moving!! I am now SUGAR COOKIE COTTAGE and you can find me at http://sugarcookiecottage.wordpress.com/

See you there!
S

Happy early birthday to me!

My 30th birthday is right around the corner! This scares me. I seem to be turning into a not so good birthday girl. =/ The opposite of my mom, she loves getting older. I'm not really into the whole thirties thing, but it's happening anyway...boo. To make my birthday a bit more exciting my husband gave me an early birthday present!

A new camera! I'm very excited! My last camera met her demise years ago, so finally some NON-PHONE pics! I'm not a photographer by any means, so just figuring out how to use this will be difficult! I will do it! ;) 

On a strange note (?) I have decided to share that I have not seen a hair dresser since August! WHATTT??? ME!? Yes. I have INCHES of natural color!

Luckily, I'm a natural dirty blonde, so the transition from white blonde to growing out hasn't been too bad. 

I have put a couple hi-lights in the front myself with the L'Oreal Touch On kit. I liked giving my hair a break, but I am planning to head to the salon this week. I need a cut, desperately! 

I'm up in the air with what to do. In August I cut it pretty short, I really don't want to go short again. I do need more blonde and maybe a crazy color. I really don't know. Any ideas?!

Hair help needed!

S

Chicken pot pie, chicken pot pie!

My children love chicken pot pie. The littlest guy cannot get enough! I decided to make chicken pot pie one night (so I could have a peaceful dinner) and I had a thought... what if I made a ton at once? I would waste less of the extras and save time! So I made a big batch

and froze them. I made one with regular pie topping, but left two to put biscuits on (D's request). In the end I estimate that it cost me about $14 to make 3, so less than $5 a dinner! Sounds good to me! I have been using THIS super easy recipe for some time. =)

As I save $$$ on food, I'm definitely spending on FIRST BIRTHDAY prep. Hard to believe my little guy will be ONE in less than two weeks! No more baby =(  I have all my party supplies and only two things left to make! I have brainstormed ideas and ordered his cake from the WONDERFUL A to Z Cakes in Quechee! They have made some really beautiful cakes for us in the past and we can't wait to see this one =)

I finished some confetti garland last weekend for the party, but I have just decided to leave it up until then. It was fun to make. Just a few sheets of felt, my Cricut, and sewing machine. This project took minutes to complete and cost me $1.30 in supplies!

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I can't wait for his birthday party!

S

January

I'm so bad at getting to the blog =( January has been interesting. I've been working on my saving money goal for sure! Seems to be working! I couponed for 3 hours for my first grocery trip of the month and saved $143! I've been able to buy fresh things weekly and save a bunch of money since. Yea, meal planning, match -ups and couponing are not the greatest times, but saving $$$$ is great!

I have majorly cut back on my Etsy activity, but I have added a few new things! Like these lovelies....

I want to wear crochet year round without sweating away so I went with this! You can check them out here!

I've been doing the Crazy little projects- sewing challenge. I've made one thing so far, but I love it!

This is definitely not the most flattering picture, but I love my maxi skirt! I plan on making many more for myself =)

That's all for now! Happy Friday! 

S

New year...

    I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! We sure did! We spent Christmas Eve with my husband's family and Christmas Day with mine. The boys loved their prizes and had fun seeing everyone. The parents (ME) ate wayyyy too much food and got wayyy too little sleep! I stayed up until 1:30am getting everything together and making breakfast for everyone. It was such a great day though, I would stay up for it again!

 I hate to admit it, but just three days after the holiday I was ready to "un-deck" the halls. I started taking stuff down, felt guilty and put some back. We cleaned out EVERYTHING! It feels amazing!!! My husband made a huge trash run and "boutique" run (the "still good" tables at the dump). I have another Thred Up bag packed up and ready to go. 2013 was a great year for our family, we were blessed with our second little man! But, we're ready for a fresh start and some exciting things!

  Sooo... 2014!  My resolutions! My list is kinda lengthy! Be a better parent, save money, continue to work on relationships, ditch the iPhone... really, it goes on and on. I feel like the the parenting resolution means doing Two Mama Owls differently. The shop will be taking a break for a bit. I've been contacted by a couple people to work on some things for them and I'm happy to do so. If you need me to come up with something for you feel free to message me and we'll work something out, but the Etsy shop will be on break. After the holiday rush I need to give all my time to my sweet men! On that note, here's some stuff I made for them for Christmas!

Ro-BEAR made without a pattern...I winged it! I made him with my favorite Knit Picks Brava Bulky yarn! I love him! 

I'm really liking writing my own patterns, here's another pattern free accomplishment ;)

I have Thomas, well train obsessed men!

and something we made together for Mamia...

A train tracks painting and embroidery on canvas.

I hope to post tomorrow about my savings plan! I'm pretty excited, maybe more determined than  excited! 

I hope you all enjoy New Year's. 

S

Mommy worry

Hello holiday people!

I've been busy preparing and enjoying this holiday season with my family, I hope you are doing the same!

 A couple months ago I started to realize that I needed to dedicate less time to my silly Etsy shop (and by silly I mean CUSTOM ONLY, who thought of this idea!?!) and more to my kiddies....I only crochet at night and that makes me tired and poopy for the day ahead. So, in the coming year I'll definitely be making some changes! I feel less and less the need to make more...relief! I've had the chance to have some magical childhood times with my guys lately. I feel so much better about everything when I can dedicate all my time and brain power to them. Often times I found myself wondering if I would regret the hour on a Sunday morning I spent crocheting while my husband watched the kids and that was really starting to make me feel uneasy, so they are no more! I feel like time is going by so fast with them =(

Less mommy worry, more happy times....

We've been making cookies and ornaments, riding the Polar Express, visiting with Santa, following Magic our elf...

He sometimes gets into some trouble.

December has been fun, hopefully the fun will spill over into 2014!

Another super fun thing is the Happy Mommy Box! I got my first one in December and loved it! (Magic did too!)

Get on the waitlist here!

Lastly, I went to the Paper Store today and grabbed all my Christmas cards. I used this coupon and got a code for a free Shutterfly book. The coupon appears to be good up until Christmas Eve, so make sure you get one!

(I'm totally not affiliated with any of the companies I mentioned)

Have a good afternoon!

S

I must get better...

I really need to get better at a lot of things, but in this case it's blogging! I have been so horrible about it and for a while I honestly couldn't even remember the password =( FAIL!

So, for catch up. I have been trying to get my priorities straight, life's lessons have made me reevaluate things a bit and I've definitely had some realizations...phewww. Things are starting to feel like they're getting back on track, well not my messy unorganized Christmas house at the moment, but that's on it's way too.

I have been swamped with orders from my Etsy shop! It's a blessing and a curse ;) But, you gotta love  neighbors who place orders for more than 10 items all at once =)

I 'm chipping away at orders, which is wonderful because my shop goes on Christmas vacation on the 12th. I'm hoping to really kick into gift mode then. It gets hard to get ahead when you only work when the kids are sleeping, which seems to happen rarely at this time.
I hope to make some changes for when I reopen in January! I'm thinking about bringing in the craft I dabbled in as a kid with my nan =) I'm feeling a mash up coming on!

The boys, well they're bigger. Mr.R is zooming straight for 1! Mr.M just celebrated his 3rd birthday in the most magical place on earth. Other than kids, yarn, and baking....well, we're cleaning out! Bye, bye stuff! It feels wonderful too! Surprisingly way better than accumulating it did.

That's all for now! Hooray for remembering my password!
I'll leave you with this seasonal delight ;)

S