Week in Review: April 21-27

Last week...

...the girls & I planted tomato seeds in eggshells. I've always wanted to try it out. (Today---8 days later---the first sprouts appeared!)

...I found an idea from a friend on facebook on how to deal with my allowance & the ever-evolving attitudes I see creeping up in my children. I wish I could link the original source, but haven't found it yet. The girls decorated jars, which I filled with marbles. The marbles represent their weekly allowance of $5. (Each marble = 25cents.) Every time the girls argue or complain, they have to remove a marble & write the scripture Philippians 2:14 on a piece of paper: "Do everything without complaining or arguing." At the end of the week, they get what money is left. I am seeing immediate results & I LOVE the jars! The girls? Not so much. 

...I made some seriously delicious & notable recipes. Firstly, THIS Italian Chicken Crockpot recipe is so super yummy & easy to make. (I served mine over spaghetti noodles.) And then I used up my seriously brown bananas (why do I always have a constant supply of these?) & baked up a batch of THESE Oatmeal Breakfast Cupcakes. They're not REALLY cupcakes. But that's what the recipe is called. Though the girls have been enjoying them for breakfast, mostly we've been munching on them for snacks. (I added mini chocolate chips AND Reese's chips to mine.) 

...I actually got to sit down for some knitting. I haven't gotten to do that in a while. It sure felt nice. 

...the girls & I took a trip to the library, one of our favorite places. We were extremely happy campers.

...I watched the Mr. teach the girls how to skip stones.

...I made indoor s'mores. I had a craving. And chocolate. 

...I taught my 4th grade STAR Club crew how to make 3-D cloud mobiles. Remember? Like the ones I made HERE for Zoey's birthday party decor last year. The kids LOVED making them. And of course they put their creative spin on the project: one kid made a 3-D sun, another added lightning bolts to his clouds. I love their imaginations.

...I had the biggest, ginormous hassle trying to renew my domain name. It's all settled now. For the most part. I've had it for 2 years now. Did you know that this blog is officially whimsy-love.com?? It'll still re-route you if you use the whimsy-girl.blogspot.com address though. I guess that makes me more fancy or something.

...I found out that my community is going to be adorning trees by the river with "sweaters" this fall. As in: yarn-bombing, knitting graffiti. I am so stoked & totally need to figure out how to get involved.  The poster explains it this way: "A public project to create colorful art pieces along the rivershore to increase conversation, community pride, & walkability in Richland." Yay, Richland!!

...Pazely & I found $20 while walking to school one morning. Cha-ching! The rest of the way to school, Pazely kept saying, "Finders! Keepers! Finders! Keepers!" in this real hysterical, maniacal way. Weirdo! I am absolutely positive that I found the bill first. But she insists that she spotted it at the same time. Whatevs. We split it 50/50 & called it good. But only because she wasn't going for 70/30.

I predicted her money would be quickly spent on Littlest Pet Shops figurines. She is going through a resurgence of LPS adoration. She has LPS villages set up all over her bedroom floor. I find the animals in little vignettes scattered all about the house. She does LPS tradesies with friends. She carries a Littlest Pet Shop stash with her wherever she goes. She's nutso for those things.

My new-found dough, with every good intention, was gonna be saved for something special for myself. But I know how that routine goes. Every time. I spend it on someone else.  And, in fact, that's how it went: I gave my half to Zoey, & both girls spent their cash at the school book fair. (Where they even bought a book each for a teacher's classroom "Wish List". SO SWEET!)

...I stumbled across THIS version of the popular song "Let It Go". It's thoroughly entertaining---the whole way through.

...my mother CONTINUES to spoil me with gifts every day for my birthday month! I've been taking pictures of them every day. See HERE for the set of pictures.

For a photo play-by-play, click HERE.

♥