Ode to Pintrest....making me SuperMom and WonderWife!!

I have found religion and it's name is pintrestism!! I have been addicted to this site and have found some really incredible tips, how-to's, recipes, and fun ideas! Not only that, I've been inspired to start trying a lot of these things. My last blog,was inspired by something I saw and pinned on pintrest. And while it's not a perfect solution, as far as Nixon is concerned, it's working to soothe me during Nixon's trips to Time Out! Who knew?!?! 

So let me catch you up on the other things I've attempted because I found them on pintrest (and yes, I've done all of these this week during Mac's leave time. Everyone, except the cats so far, has benefited from this site!) I'll add a couple photos of the results too!! Seriously, I've had so much fun trying all these new and fun do-it-yourself things!!! 

On the WonderWife front: 

   Mac got his very first pedicure! I filled the baby tub we still had, with warm-hot water and had him soak his feet in it. I used the sugar scrub I bought him for yule on his feet, then I pumiced his feet, then I used the homemade foot scrub I made just for him on his feet. After letting them soak a few more minutes I dried them off and gave him a nice (and short...hey I'm going for WonderWife not Mother effing Teresa here) foot massage.

    (** my foot scrub was made like this: 1/2 cup oil, 1/4 coffee grounds (I used dry-striaght from the package grounds) and 1/4 brown sugar plus 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon....it was very yummy smelling, kind of messy but made his feet really soft, Very impressive for someone whose worn boots for more than 15 years and has rough and flacky feet. I stored the leftovers in the fridge for futures use...good for 3 weeks!) 

   Mac prefers waffles to pancakes. (Me? I'm a pancake kinda girl.) He bought a waffle maker this week, after I said I'd be willing to make (and freeze) waffles if we had a waffle maker, since both he and Nixon love waffles. 

    So Mac not only got to sleep in this morning, he also woke up to an amazing breakfast!! Freshly made whole wheat waffles, bacon, eggs and cut strawberries. I woke him up just in time for everything to be on the table ready to eat. A mostly delicious breakfast!

   (**waffles were dry but Mac gets Husband of the Year for not saying anything until I mentioned something. Even then he said "Well I just poured on syrup and they tasted fine to me!" Goddess love a man who can make excuses for a less than perfect meal! I know I do!)

Next, my endeavors as SuperMom! (my cape is in the mail!!)

dino head in bowl of rice

    Nixon loves dinosaurs. And we still have a ton of leftover, unused rice after the "drowning" incident of Mac's now Zombie computer. (Seriously...that thing is still alive and missing parts!!)  I found this cute little dinosaur and KNEW I had to make Nixon one. Even better, I thought letting him choose from the fleece I have might be more fun for him! But instead of filling it with stuffing, my HUSBAND....SuperDad, if you will, suggested filling it with rice. Which, is actually a great idea, because the dino can be used as an ice pack (if need be). (Sadly, need be within a couple hours of the little guy's completion tonight....honest to the pasta bowl in the sky!)

The finished product...in the rice!

And now the story of why it was needed...Nixon was playing with one of his larger toy trucks on the floor tonight. He somehow ended up faceplanting on the floor and bumped his eye bone, leaving a red mark and one loud crying child! So I grabbed the new dino and tossed it into the freezer for a couple minutes while Mac tried to calm Nixon down. While it wasn't cold enough to really do much, it did work in making Nixon ask for it and he did hold it to his face, though not his eye. 

   The damage???

not too clear a picture, but you can see the swelling under his eye and some discoloration for sure.... Poor Cookie Dough :(

    My other attempt at SuperMom was making washable body paint. Nixon still is fighting bath time and we're (read I'M) getting desperate to not have a screeching, screaming, crying mess of a son everytime he's in the tub. While he liked painting my tub walls, and even me, he was still not a fan of the bath itself. 

  (**next time: less food coloring...it almost left a stain on Nixon's arm from leaving it on one spot too long. A little color goes a long way!)

While I have a TON more ideas for Nixon, these were the only ones I've done for him. But he too benefited from the whole wheat waffles. 

Finally, when it came time to hang up my SuperMom cape and take off my WonderWife corset (it is not something to be worn for an extended period of time...not comfy at all!), I needed to do something to let me know that I loved me too! Pintrest had that covered too!

First a nice coffee facial scrub. Much like the foot scrub only without the sugar added. Very yummy smelling and left my skin deliciously smooth and soft! I washed my face like usual, then used this amazing scrub on my face and neck! So simple and amazing results! Plus...my hands smelled like coffee when I went to bed! Ahh....coffee infused dreams.

It actually IS supposed to look like mud....yummy coffee flavored mud :)

  Finally, the most tedious projects I've taken on this week: headbands made out of old tee shirts!!! I'm actually trying 3 different styles, but so far have only completed 2 of my 3 choices. The last one requires braiding and my wrists hurt (yeah, I'll be going to the doctor soon, it's probably carpal tunnel syndrome) so I'm pacing myself. Mac has a bunch of tees he's getting rid of, so I raided them and pulled out a few that I liked and figured are nuetral enough in color to be worn often. 

The first one was "simple": headband and twisty flower.  The headband part was so easy! measure head, cut tee, sew ends together. Done! The flower....not so much. Twist, tightly, winding, glue, twist, glue....it's not too bad, but it's not prefect either. 

see the glue gobs?? my glue gun hates me!

The next ones required me to look at 2 blogs for the how-to's! Once I figured it out...well I'm still not sure I've figured it out, but they look okay AND the gray one I made tonight, is actually really comfy (I'm wearing it right now!!)

**this one was complicated because of the wrapping/pulling of the knots and the length of the tee shirt "strands" I was working with. It's still super cute and since I don't like my hair in my face when I cook, or read, or breath, or pretty much any other time but I do like to try to wear my hair down and save stress on the ends by avoiding rubber bands, these will all be very cute solutions!! 

the brown knotted headband, thinner strands were used.

modeling the newly finished, thicker gray knot headband! I Loves it!!

So there you have it....Mac's on leave and I've been digging my superhero gig!! 

(And of course, in true Nixon fashion....this newest mark on his face comes just days before a family photo shoot!!! Oh well, wouldn't be a Wilcox-Ball photo shoot if someone wasn't sporting an injury. Last October Mac was still hobbling around on a bum knee through the castle ruins!)

SuperMom and WonderWife is on the JOB

Every now and then I have a few stellar days in both the mommy and wifey departments. Today might just be one of those days. 

It started with Nixon actually ASKING for dinner. Lately, he'll refuse to eat anything I make for him. Tonight he came over to me and said "Momma, chicken is yummy in my tummy". I asked him if he wanted chicken for dinner. He said "No, mommy, BeBe wants chicken in his tummy." Well, if BeBe will eat it apparently Nixon will eat it too. I made Nixon his chicken tenders, a waffle and a banana (since Nixon declared veggies to be "yucky"). He ate the waffle, half his chicken and his banana. Plus he ate some of my pineapple pieces. 

Bathtime is a battle these days with Nixon. NO idea why, but it has become an epic battle that ends in tears, screams and I'm pretty sure the neighbors are speculating about murder until they see Nixon the next day! I've tried coloring the water with food color, I've bought foam numbers and letters, boats, squirt toys and everything works for a few baths and then they don't. He still freaks about getting his hair wet (even though he loves shampooing his hair himself!). So tonight, I tried a different approach (and discovered my husband really will save anything even remotely useful for an INcrediably long ass long time) tonight. 

Nixon enjoying the glowstick bath...

Mac has a plastic box of glow sticks. I figured I'd grab 3-4 of them, break 'em, shake 'em and  toss 'em in the tub filled with bubbles and WAH-LA.....glowing bubblebath! Nixon seemed really into the idea too...until it was time to get into the tub. But before that headache happened. Let me say...I found glowsticks that expired....in 1998!!! The most "recently" expired one was 2007! I managed to get 7 to work, but there were only 2 colors and that was out of 14 or so that I tried. (Yeah, Mac's not going to be happy about that but actually, hey I just saved us the trouble of taking useless shit back to the states with us!! I should be rewarded for that!!)

...and this was when they were not fun anymore

So I get Nixon undressed, wrestle him into the tub, (once again prepared for the MP's to show up and ask to see my son as they've had reports of suspected murder sounds coming fro our house) and after a few minutes Nixon starts grabbing the glow sticks and handing me the different colors. He had fun...for about 5.5 minutes and then wanted out. SO much for solving our latest bathtime dilemma. 



He went to bed and I decided to try on my WonderWife cape...maybe that one fits me better.


I'm doing my best to help us save money for our move home in May. In 2.5 months with making shopping lists, using coupons sent to us from friends and family back home and (this month) making a meal plan, we've managed to save over $225!! I'm very proud of that because it's really all I can contribute right now. 
This month I've made: potato salad, goulash, macaroni salad and tonight, just for Mac, a barbque meatloaf!
I find recipes and then usually tweak them to make them something I know Mac will enjoy more. The meatloaf tonight had more chili powder, less chopped onions but more chopped peppers and celery (not included in the recipe) and more beef. Which actually turned out to be an awesome idea, because it cooked down a lot. He's making meatloaf sandwiches out of it, so it's not the worst thing in the world that it cooked down. He's also supposed to take one to work for some of the guys on Sunday, because it's too spicy for me to eat, plus every now and then I like sending something homemade for the single guys (that aren't total asshole douchenozzles) to eat, its good karma for me.
It smells amazing!! 

So....SuperMom, eh??....I'm still growing into that costume. But WonderWife?? It's a damned near perfect fit, everytime I try it on!!

end result...very yummy smelling!

celery, pepper, onion stacked!

bar-b-que glazed and ready to bake!