Tagging

Sarah- The Cootie Queen and my BabyCenter friend for 2 years now- tagged me in her fun little post. So...

Here are the rules:

• You must post the rules.
• Answer the 11 questions that the tagger posted for you
• Then create 11 questions to ask the people you’ve tagged.
• Tag 11 people and link them in your post.
• Let them know you have tagged them.

Here's what I have to answer:

1. What is your middle name?  Any significance to it?

Suzanne. Amanda Suzanne (for those who don't realize my real name isn't Mandy). I'm named after my paternal grandma. I'm fine with it, but HATE when people sing, "Oh Suzanna, don't you cry for me..."

2. What is your favorite dessert?

Ooh... I love strawberry/cherry cheesecake and banana pudding

3.  Name your top 3 pet peeves.

Being cut off in traffic

Being interrupted

Having to repeat myself multiple times

4. What is the last item you bought that was over $50?

Gas! It cost me $85 to fill up my tank!!!

5. What were the colors in your wedding? (if you’ve been married… if not… If you had to plan a wedding today, what would your colors be?)

Black and White with pops of Hot Pink

6. What was your favorite year of school?  (why…?)

Kindergarten! Lol! And 3rd or 4th grade. Those years just stick out as when I had fantastic teachers, did fun assignments, and liked the kids in my class.

7. Who is your favorite character? (from a book, movie, tv show… you pick)

Ooh... that's a tough one. I don't read much, and watch a lot of TV, but mostly reality shows. I'd say, right now, Monroe from Grimm. If you don't watch the show, it's ok... It's filmed and takes place in Portland, Oregon (so close to home) and is about a man who is a Grimm, meaning he has the special ability to see fairy tale creatures who live all around us. Many of the fairy tale creatures are bad, and his job is to take out the bad ones. Monroe is a reformed "big, bad wolf" of sorts. He is just a loveable guy and I love the relationship Nick (the Grimm) and Monroe have together. They make me smile.

8. What is the last movie you saw at a theater?

I just saw The Lorax last Friday. It was our first time to take Josiah to the theater. Without previews, he would've made it all of the way through. But because of the extra time, he lost it about 15 minutes before the movie was over.

9.  Do you paint your toenails?

Yes, but I often paint them and leave them that way forever. Then I just paint over if it chips. I only change colors occasionally. And, most of the time, they're black because that matches most everything I wear.

10. What did you eat for lunch yesterday?

A Weight Watchers meal- I can't remember which specific one, but that's what I eat for almost every meal- down 10 lbs since I started!

11. If I gave you $1000 right now what would you do with it?

So many different things!!! I want to go shopping. I want new clothes. I want crafts. I need gas and groceries. I want to go out to dinner. I want to get Micah a jumperoo. Josiah needs new clothes. Jesse could even use a "new" car that the $1000 could go towards.

My questions for you:

1. What is your favorite piece of decor in your house?
2. What tv show is a guilty pleasure for you?
3. What is your favorite restaurant?
4. If you could live in any other state, where would you choose?
5. What kind of car do you drive?
6. What is the thing you do that wastes the most amount of time in your day?
7. What is your favorite website right now?
8. Do you have any special talents?
9. What is your favorite feature about yourself?
10. How did you meet your significant other, if you have one?
11. What is your favorite color?

And my tagged friends, if you want to or have time (no pressure!)  :-)

1. Carina
2. Shannon
3. Shanny
4. Jen
5. Brittney
6. Hayley
7. Jenna
8. Steph
9. Jesse
10. Katelyn
11. Kristin

MOPS Monday- Chalkboard Pots

For our other meeting in February, we had a speaker come share gardening tips for our group. To go with this topic, I chose to do a potted plant as the craft, with an added twist of having the pots painted in chalkboard paint. However, because of the time to prime and paint the pots, I had to do this myself at home before the meeting. To still make it a craft worth doing, I bought a pot of flowers for each mom and provided the chalk and decorations for the pots.

My inspiration was this picture, which turned out a million times better than my own:

(I got the idea from Pinterest and used the original site, along with others, for directions. However, when I tried to link to it just now, I was warned that there were possible viruses. So I say, just google it or browse Pinterest for further images/directions.)

I really struggled to do this craft within my tiny budget, so I cut some corners. I bought one base for the terracotta pots as an example, but did not buy them for each person, as it would've added nearly $15 to my budget. I also was able to buy 2 pots and get the third free with special coupons from Fred Meyer, which helped cut down on the cost. 

I used the cheapest painter's tape I could find too. First, I taped off the rim of each pot with the painter's tape. 

The employee at Michael's recommended that I seal, prime, and paint each pot, but I ended up buying a black paint that said it was for ceramics, hoping that was good enough to seal and prime it together. I took all 15 pots outside, after being taped, and painted them with the ceramic paint. I coated each pot about 2 times, until all of the pots appeared to be evenly covered. I did notice that you could see where the price stickers had been, but the chalkboard paint later covered this up- no worries!

Once dry, I brought them inside.

Then, my mom helped me to paint each pot with the chalkboard paint, according to the directions:

 

And, once dry, I removed the painter's tape:

Then, I decorated the rim by gluing hemp around the rim and into a bow:

I bought pre-potted primroses for each mom to put into her new pot. In mine, I had violets. And then I used a chalkboard marker to write on my pot: Roses are red, violets are blue, I love MOPS, because of you!

(My violets were dead by this point! I do NOT have a green thumb!!!)

(I also think my pot failed in comparison to the inspiration because it was missing the bold, white, simple word the inspiration had. I think the small, colored hand-writing on mine makes it look less classy. I also like the original herbs, but found that I could not find pre-potted herbs for everyone in February. While I could've provided seeds and soil, I liked the instant gratification of already-blossomed flowers.)

I then bottled up nearly 2 ounces of the chalkboard paint for each person to take home their own bottle. This way, they could do any touch-ups they needed or do their own chalkboard project at home.

I made up directions for each person to take home, instructing them on how to properly use their chalkboard paint:

And, I made sure to add the inspiration picture, along with this idea as well, on our MOPS facebook page, so that everyone could see the great ways they could use their pots:

(Source)