Remodeling inside and out.

I feel inspired this weekend.
The artist in me is trying to burst out of me. It hurts so. I must create. So, I've decided to tackle a bunch of tasks and I will probably get in over my head, so if you don't hear from me for awhile, please don't worry-I will be fine.

My first task:
I have decided to redo my pet art portrait site, www.TMoodyDesigns.com . I really need to change the look, prices, SEO -just about everything. Last year, I was discouraged with the economy and thought that it was the end for artists. Lately though, while surfing the net (do they still say that?) I noticed that artists are still rocking and selling their art, so if they can do it, so can I. Wish me luck on this project.

My next task:
A couple of weeks ago, I tackled cleaning out my boy's room. If you have ever stepped foot in that kid's room, you might of lost that foot. It was BAD. I survived the task, but I got a vision. This vision came from reading my blog buddy Creative Junkie's blog. She redid her laundry room and it turned out beauuutiful. I loved the brown walls. The uniformed look made me cry. Then I thought to myself, I want brown walls-in my boy's room. Of course, that would require changing the rug on the floor and the curtains too. We would then have to take down those posters and frame some cool art instead. Yes! Yes! Oh how wonderful it will look!
Only thing is, I KNOW that he won't want me to change anything. He likes his ugly yellow walls with marks all over them and the half- ripped posters taped to them-ugh! So, what's my plan? I'm going to get it all done while he's at his dads. I'm so evil thinking like that! Boo-hahaha!

The next task after that:
While watching my new favorite series, Pysch (thanks, Sis, for getting us addicted to this show) my eyes happened to glance over to our wall that has the family photos on it. I did one of those double takes and gasped. I couldn't believe how long I've had the same photos up there. I mean, these are so old, they scare me. I remember taking these when I got my first camera when I decided to get into photography. This camera wasn't even a professional one-argh! It made me realize how far I've come in talent and how unprofessional they looked. Then, I realized that when a photography client comes to my house for a meeting, they SEE these horrible photos. Do they think that is what my work looks like? Oh the humanity! Maybe that's why some clients leave so fast. Oh my, these have to go. So, I am changing over the photos and the frames. THIS will be my hardest task, because I HATE HANGING UP FRAMES. I cannot get them to line up if my life depended on it. Pray for me.

Now, my last task:
My oldest daughter Jess has been inspired to start a blog. Well, she started one last year, but life got in the way, so she is starting fresh. She has asked me to design it for her, give her pointers and basically, just bring her into the blogging world. She's turning twenty in a couple of weeks-Wait! Twenty? OMG, I have to stop and wipe a tear off. Okay, I'm fine now. I figure with her turning the big 2-0, this would be a great time for her to journal her life. So, when I'm done with it, please visit her. Follow her. Love her.

Okay, that is all for now. I have my plate full and this may take longer than a couple of days. Then again, I've been known to move mountains in a day. (hee, hee)

Catching up.

Sorry that i haven't been around for awhile. Life has been in the way and working on several projects. I'm even starting on my next book- I know, this one isn't even out yet.
I realized that it had been too long since I've blogged or commented on blogs, when the only comments I've been getting are spam ones.
We've been so busy that we haven't even opened everything that we got for Christmas. Well, we took the wrapping paper off, but actually opening and using the stuff is another story.
I remembered that we got a video camera from MIL, so as we were catching up on shows we recorded, I tried it out.
Mind you, this wasn't a big expensive one, just one that you shoot and then you can plug it in directly to your PC. It was dark in the room, so not the greatest in clarity. I decided to use one I shot of Emily. So, here is crazy haired Emily talking about her MP3 player.

Easy Bake Oven? Hardly.

Did you ever have an Easy Bake Oven? I did. I loved that oven. I would "bake" anything I could get my hands on. We would stick cookies in it to warm them up, and buy lots of mixes and make cakes and brownies, and all sorts of yummy stuff. I really loved it-you felt like a big person, being able to work with a very hot object and not get in trouble doing so.

I remember getting my oldest daughter one when she was little, but I don't think she got into it very much. I also used to buy her tons of Barbies and she never really played with them either. I'm seriously thinking that maybe she was switched at birth.

I talked my youngest into asking for one for Christmas from Grandma. Last night, I was asking myself, Why did I do this?

For some reason, I don't remember it being so hard to use an Easy Bake Oven. Or, how messy it is to use one. Or, how long it takes to bake four microscopic cookies. How? How, did I ever love this little simple piece of machinery?

I had promised her that we would make her cookies mix and cake mix after I got all my work done. After reading the directions, I carefully put the mix in a bowl and found out you can only add about three drops of water to the mix. I nervously added the water and accidentally added too much. Wow. You NEVER want to add too much water to these space age mixes. It turned out slimy, but we still used it-at six dollars a mix, we are using it.

We finally got the four cookie balls made and I realized that they wanted you to only cook one cookie at a time for ten minutes a cookie. What? Ten minutes? What five year old is going to wait that long for EACH cookie? Had I known this earlier, I would not of waited until 8:30 at night to do this.

So, I helped her push the pan in, not realizing that you have to mush the cookie down, so it would go through the door. Now, we had cookie dough stuck on the door. Not good.

We survived the first cookie, but learned that you don't really want to leave it in for the time that they say, or you will have a cookie that is burnt on the bottom and those little boogers do not want to come out of the pan.

We also found out that the frosting can be very picky too. I think I must have either added too much water, or not enough. After five minutes of trying to get it to stick to the water, I pulled out a can of frosting from the fridge and suggested that green frosting would look so much better.

After the cookies were all baked, I figured she'd be too tired or bored to make the cake-I know I was. Nope. She was all excited to make the cake because she was going to be a "cooker" when she grows up and she's going to use her Easy Bake Oven to make yummy desserts. I'm thinking, yeah, to use it as a step stool.

So, we finished the cake and luckily, the frosting decided to work for us. For some reason, the cake looked and tasted just like the cookies. Had I known this earlier, I would have suggested we made the cookies as a cake too and saved alot of burnt fingers and cursing.

She was so proud of her cake, she wanted me to take a photo of it.

Next time she wants to use that Easy Bake Oven, I'm going to tell her there's a new Happy Meal toy at McDonald's, and afterwards, I'll buy her a dozen pink frosted cookies from the bakery down the street.