Tuesday, March 30

You Know You Work in....

So my co-worker Christy found this funny list - "You Know You work in Church Communications When..." We laughed our butts off. There were over 100 things, but I wanted to share a few that were SO true to my line of work....church graphics and communication ...  :)

- You've used "at" as a cross.
- You use the word "relevant" to describe most things.
- Many sentences directed at you start with "I don't know if this is possible, but..." OR "We need this by tomorrow"...
- If somehow a spelling error sneaks through, your dedication to serving the Lord is questioned.
- When watching commercials on TV you can readily identify the fonts used.
-You are the only one who knows what pixelated means.
- Graphic Designer also means printer, trimmer, e-mailer, web-updater, tech support, volunteer, interface runner..etc.
- People are nice to you because you bail them out of messes caused by lack of planning.
- Lack of planning is blamed on the Holy Spirit.
-You are given a flyer from the church down the road and told to design one that looks exactly like it, but change the colors.
-You would rather give up a finger than have to attend another creative planning meeting.
- Any design with the word "women" in it needs to be pink.
- You're in charge of communication, but no one communicates with you.

If you work at a church...then you totally relate.  :)
Will be back a little later for a real post.
~mandy~

Friday, March 26

Been a Little Crafty

So I took off Wednesday and Thursday (as some of you may know) to 'craft it up' with Krystle. We had a great time, made some cute stuff, chatted up some biz, and watched (mostly listened) some great movies. Here are a few onesies that I created on my off time, I love them! They will probably be in the Etsy Shop early next week. I'm hoping to find a cute baby to model them for us in some pics.....but we made have to wait.

Great News: I got my first pen pal letter in the mail today!!!
It was so much fun. I use to write my friends all the time. I had a guy friend I met in 5th grade and when we moved that summer to a different school and town, we wrote each other all the time. I mean we wrote each other until we were both like 17, and then we lost track of each other.... If anyone knows a Joe Moore from Humble, Tx area.... have him look me up, I have been trying to get back in touch with him for a year or so now.  :)  I am also in the middle of writing my other 3 pen pals! Yay for snail mail!

We've got the girls the weekend, so I am sure I will have lots to share on their "antics", for now, I've got dinner ready to roll, 2 girls that need a bath and I've got to go!

Have a great Saturday everyone!
~mandy~

PS - I have craft night tomorrow night at church, and I am pretty excited!  :)



Thursday, March 25

I see a Light.....

Yes, the bathroom remodel is ALMOST over!!!!! The closet doors are finally painted (after the first coat of paint was a disaster!) Still need to paint the door TO the bathroom..... NOTE: the entire house was this shade of yellow when we moved in.....yellow is not my fav color.  :)
Still have to paint these cabinets...but I do have a pic ready to hang.....someday.....
And don't the floors look SO pretty!!! eeeek, I love them  :)

I know it's still pretty early in the year, but I have been daydreaming about vacation...... I dream about the beach...... the fresh air, cool breeze, sand between my toes, shells that I will never use in a bag at my side, the bad beach hair..... yeah, I am SOOO ready.
sigh.....

:)
~mandy~

Monday, March 22

Weekend Update and Yumm-O Recipe

Another crazy weekend! At some point these crazy weekends will stop ...... I hope.


 
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On Sunday our church rented out the local skating rink and we had such a great time! Gabby could barely move on the skates without falling when she first started, but she was movin' and a groovin' by the end! I was so proud of her. Kayla only skated for a little while, she spent most of the time people watching. I did really well helping Gab out, and then she took one tumble and I went down with her....to avoid squishing her, I hurt myself pretty bad. I landed on my right palm which hurt my entire wrist/hand area, last night I could barely move my arm, but today, it is behaving better (thank you Jenna, Jordan and Jess for praying).
Cuteness on skates!
Gabby "Racing" (she's the one on the ground)
The Famous Fall
The Hokey Pokey

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Now for the Yumm-o recipe! This is my semi-famous Mexican Dressing, not sure why it's called that, but that's what it's called. My momma taught me how to make this early on in my married life, and it has saved my butt many a time. SUPER DUPER easy, I have never "messed" up the recipe, so try it out even if you think you can't cook!  :)

MEXICAN DRESSING

2 medium Chicken Breasts
1 can Rotel
2 cans Cream of Mushroom soup (can also use cream of chicken)
1/4 block of Velveeta
1 bag of Nacho Cheese Doritoes
shredded cheese (several handfuls in dressing and on top)
 
- Boil chicken, chop into chunks (keep broth for later) OR chop the chicken and then boil, I have done it both ways.

- In large bowl - melt the velveeta with some milk (like cheese dip)

- After cheese is melted, combine cheese dip, soup and rotel (looks really gross, but don't worry about looks)

- add chicken, a couple of handfuls of cheese and doritos. NOTE: Crush Doritos (in the bag, not super crushed, but not really large peices)

- Mix ingredients (should be kinda soupy). The mix needs to be a little bit "soupy" because the juice will soak into the chips, and if there is not enough liquid, the dressing will be dry. If your mix is too dry add some of your chicken broth.

- Spray Pam in a 9x13 clear baking dish (or you can use 2 smaller ones) pour mixture in the baking dish.

- Add cheese mixture to the top of your dress and then bake @ 350 until the top cheese is melted and middle is hot.

SOOOOO good!









Saturday, March 20

What day is it????

Hehehe -  it's been another wild and crazy week/weekend at the Deiterings! We have been trying desperately to get out bathroom finished up so the house will be somewhat back in order before we start another project.... ugh.

OH last night Sarah, Jess and I went to the Wal-Mart midnight release party of New Moon! We had a lot of fun, but I am still trying to catch up on my sleep (I go to bed super early). I have pics, but will have to post them tomorrow. We are also having a party tonight with friends.....eeekk, it's going to be SO much fun!

My neice Jordan is coming to the party and spending the night with us, I am pretty excited about that, AND tomorrow after church, our church rented the roller skating rink in town!!! We are going to rock out some 70's costumes and have a blast!

Gotta run, Brand and I are in the middle of a small Spring Cleaning Frenzy, but I had to stop by and tell you that I was still alive!  :)

Chat at you tomorrow!
~mandy~


Wednesday, March 17

Dia dhuit

Dia dhuit mean Hello in Gaelic! (at least that's what google says, hopefully it's right)

I LOVE St Patrick's Day, I'm not sure why exactly, maybe it's because everyone comes together and wears green and they are all happy ..... I don't know, but for the past several years, I have fallen in love with the day. Today I am decked out in my green. I made a cute little green/plaid bow for my hair in honor of today.....
St. Patrick was an amazing man, if you didn't know. I didn't. He was a passionate man in love with God. Over on the Hello Ladies blog we have some St. Paddy's Day love going on all day, you should stop by, I think Jessica has done some research on St Patrick and she is going to enlighten us.  :)

I am very excited about it.
Hope your St. Paddy's day is filled with joy and peace. 
~mandy~

PS - our youth group had a massive St. Paddy's Day Party at the church, here are a few pics. (and yes, I have red hair)
(brother - Josh - doll hair glued on his face......)

Tuesday, March 16

what a weekend

First of all we had an amazing response to our birthday blog party over at Hello Ladies. It was too fun, five lucky people got some prizes!

We had the girls this weekend, so Brand decided that we should all go see Alice in Wonderland. NOTE: we were going to go Thursday night, but my stomach was a little bit unhappy so I didn't know if I could handle the 3D-ness of the film. SO, Saturday night, we went and saw it as the cute little family that we are. It was my first ever movie in 3D and I really liked it. There were a few parts in there that I could have completely done without (the floating heads, the dragon's head being.....yeah, yucky). I was also having problems understanding what the heck they were saying, when the Mad Hatter switched to that Scottish accent....I was lost. I will be glad when it comes out on DVD and I can subtitle it.  :-)
The best part of the movie for my was the dresses that Alice wore! That red dress.......AMAZING!!! and the cute little one the Mad Hatter made for her in the teapot.....genius.

STILL not done with the bathroom remodel..... I rolled the paint on the bathroom doors Saturday morning, and after a few minutes I saw that it was bubbling.....the whole thing (4 accordian door type things) have to be scraped and then sanded and repainted.......UGH. BUT, the bathroom colors look really nice, so I am excited about how it is turning out. I will get pics up soon.

Oh, wanted to send a shout-out to Lindsay over at Pixies and Bears, she is having a really neat-o giveaway, and you should totally go check it out.  :)

I am pretty excited about Spring Break this year, not because I get to go anywhere, but I think Krystle and I are gonna spend a few days cranking out some Hello Ladies goodness...... that makes me super happy!

Have a great night everyone!
~mandy~

Friday, March 12

Blog Party over at Hello Ladies

Hey there! I've been super busy today hosting the 1st Birthday Blog Party over at Hello Ladies. You should go over and check it out, there have been 5 posts already and it's been really fun!


Thursday, March 11

Excited about Tomorrow!!!

In case you didn't know, tomorrow is the 1 year Birthday of Hello Ladies (my Biz with my BFF's).


All week I've been working on 2 things when I got home, the bathroom remodel (which should be done by the weekends'.......end) and the Hello Ladies Birthday Blog Party. Tomorrow from .... sometime in the morning, till ..... sometime in the evening (do u like those specifics?) we are having a Birthday Party on the Hello Ladies Blog. There will be at least 5 giveaways (at least), 'meet the Ladies' posts, 'visit the blogs we love' posts...... it's just going to be a good time. If you aren't a follower of the blog, become one so you won't miss out on a second of birthday goodness. We will also do one giveaway for just our facebook fans, so totally become a fan of us there!

Anywhoooo, I think Brand and I are going to see Alice in Wonderland tonight......i think. Not going to lie - Johnny Depp is a little creepy in the trailers, so we shall see.... 

OH and I watched the Eclipse Trailer today....yay!
(don't hate - if you don't like it, I'm not out there bashing your choice of movies, books or lifestyle...hehehe).
It's going to be fun. I know where I will be June 29th at midnight.  :)

I think that's all for this evening, Just wanted to give you a heads up on the blog giveaway tomorrow and hope that you stop by!
~mandy~

Wednesday, March 10

........yup, I'm still here ......

-found on we heart it-

So sorry I haven't posted, I have been up to my eyeballs in the bathroom remodel. I have no idea how one little bitty bathroom can effectively mess up every room in my house.

- Our bedroom as all the bathroom decor in it along with everything out from under the cabinets.

- The craft room has all of our hang-up clothes in it (yes, our closet is in the bathroom)

- the kitchen/dining room has all the remodel supplies in it

- the other bathroom (which is rarely used) has now become the ONLY bathroom we have. Did I mention it was also the laundry room.....eeeek.

- the living room has become the overflow of the laundry room...

It's just one big mess! Last night I cleaned off the dining room table......I was SO happy. it was literally the ONLY clean place in the house. I am so ready for this to be over, but as soon as this remodel is over, we will be putting down hardwood floors in the living room, soooo here we go again!  :)


YAY I have 31 followers! Hello to my Indie Biz friends that have decided to follow. I promise more interesting items next week! Head on over to the Hello Ladies Blog and become a follow of them/us, that one stays interesting!  :)

Have a great week!
~mandy~

Sunday, March 7

Who wanted to remodel???

SOOOOO - It was my BIG idea to remodel our master bathroom.....what was I thinking??? It's been a week now, and I think we are just now "getting started". We would start one project, but couldn't really get started because we needed to rip this out, or paint this first .... it's been a mess, but I hope to start actually painting tomorrow night ..... PRAISE THE LORD!!! So here are a few fun pics of my weekend. Tomorrow I will be doing a post on all my new "Indie Biz 2.0" friends - lots of cute blogs and etsy shop links coming your way! Hope your weekend was great!

~mandy~

Part of the "before" pic. I forgot to take pics of the rest......so sorry  :)

Such a FANTASTIC husband I have - so cute covered in dust!

The flooring underneath our flooring.....good times!


DUST EVERYWHERE!!!! (from scrapping the glue off the floor)

These are the colors of the new bathroom and bedroom when we get it finished...


Dot was a big help this weekend, can't you tell???  :)