Cyber Monday is Family Day in a Restaurant Owner’s Household and Time to Find Our Christmas Tree

As many people sit in front of their computers busily looking for bargains on line, we are spending our time together as a family.

I mentioned in a previous posting that Mondays are golden in our house! We love Mondays! If you are a restaurant owner’s family you typically live for Mondays since that tends to be when Skappo is closed and the start of the “weekend”. Our weekend is just one day, Monday, but we are happy about it.

This Monday is a beautiful, crisp and clear winter’s day. It is too awesome a day to just spend indoors so we are looking for a Christmas tree.

We will be making some new decorations out of self drying clay that will be painted and varnished.  They will join the many ornaments that came from Michael’s days as a young boy.

Mondays are very important for us to bond and spend time together.  The biggest advertised sale day of the year is not going to stop us.

Cyber Monday is great, but we noticed from past years experience that the “deals” can be found more throughout the year rather than just one day.

For instance, the computer I am using now was purchased for almost $100 cheaper than the advertised “door buster” Cyber Monday price.

Also, some retailers, like Staples or Best Buy, have their Cyber Monday deals from Black Friday onward so you don’t have to just shop on one day.

Still, I am happy for my many family and friends who are shopping today.  They will be helping many retailers and our economy as a whole.

And who knows, maybe when the kids go to bed tonight I might find myself in front of my computer taking part in the last minute Cyber Monday frenzy.

Happy Cyber Monday to you all!  May you buy and save a lot!

Vintage Estate Sale Find of the Week– Early 1900s Antique Gentleman’s Wardrobe Cabinet that I Refinished and Updated Do It Yourself Style

I love vintage, estate and thrift shopping. On a weekly basis I would like to feature my favorite “find” of the week.

In a previous blog I mentioned my life as a treasure hunter. I crave for my vintage fixes.

This week I am presenting an antique gentleman’s wardrobe made in the early 1900s.   I do not have a before picture, but when I found this cabinet the varnish was faded, discolored and scratched, and the original bronze fixtures were painted black.

This was a weekend do it yourself project where I sanded the wood down to remove the old varnish.  When I got a smooth texture I put 2 layers of cherry stain varnish finish (It is a product that has the stain and varnish combined).

I removed the black paint that covered the bronze fixtures with turpentine so it’s beauty could just be enhanced.

This project took about 3 days because I had to wait until the cherry stain varnish dried before I could put a second layer.

I consider this piece to be one of my great finds.

I really believe that if you know what you are looking for you can make someone’s trash into treasure! I feel like that about life too…you can make a challenge into a blessing…it’s all perspective.

I hope you have a wonderful day filled with joy and happiness!

 

How to Make Chinese Fortune Cookies with Customized Fun Fortunes & My Fortune Making Experience

I love going to Chinese American restaurants not only for the food, but for the fortune cookie that you get at the end of your meal.

Now that I have kids who love fortune cookies I never get to have one because the boys tend to want them all!

In my family my husband is the baker because he is very precise.  With baking you have to be accurate, and by nature, I am more “type b”.  I like adding a little bit of this and that.  I like a good challenge though so I have decided to try my hand in making my own fortune cookies.

For my fortune cookie project I found a great tutorial online by Makefortunecookies.com. This website gives you the clearest directions and it also provides the fortunes. 

I decided to make my own fortunes up because I have past experience in doing this.  When I got married my sister and I made a “fortune bowl” with off beat fortune cookie-like fortunes. 

Wedding Fortune Bowl

It was something I wanted my guests to take part in as an “ice breaker” to meeting and making new friends.

Each guest was asked to take as many fortunes as they wanted!

(I wish I had a picture of the bowl, but unfortunately my wedding photographers were a little bit crooked and they did not give us our wedding pictures.  That is a story for another day!)

Here are some examples of the fortunes in my Wedding fortune bowl:

1.  Go to the groom and rub his head 3 times so you will have good luck.

2.  Kiss the cheek of a person you have never met for good fortunes to fall to you.

3.  Jump 3 times and turn around to get the good fortunes that await you.

4.  Tell the bride that she is the prettiest bride you have ever seen and you will have great fortunes.

5.  Say hello to a new person that you have never met and good fortunes will befall you.

The fortune bowl fortunes were a true success and they really did allow for my guests to interact with one another.

My husband Michael initially did not know what kind of fortunes there were and he was at first mystified why guests were rubbing his head!  After he found out about the fortune instructions he had a good laugh.

When I get a chance to make the fortune cookies I will post an updated picture of the results.

For now click on this link to see a few fortunes I created for this project. I hope you enjoy them!

Have a great day!

(UPDATE: I blogged about the fortune cookies we eventually baked.  Click this link and you will see the post.  Cheers!)

Historic Nor’Easter (Snow Storm) Slams Connecticut & Making a Do It Yourself Dinosaur Hoodie Jacket

Who would have thought when we woke up this morning that a historic nor’easter would take over Connecticut?  For those not from the North East of the USA you might not be familiar with the term Nor’Easter.  It is an extremely rough and heavy snow storm.

Our day started with a little face painting and backyard activities in the early morning.  The sun was out and there was a crisp coldness in the air.  The weather stations were all saying we were going to have the “storm of the century”, but I thought they called it wrong because the weather seemed so idyllic.

Just to be on the safe side, I sent Michael out to get storm essentials since the news agencies were calling for severe weather and electrical outages.  The picture below sums up what Michael brought back from the store.

Fast forward to the late morning.  We were basically snowed in since I am not a very good driver when it is sunny, so when it snows my kids and I are immobile.

When you are stuck at home with young kids you have to be creative with your time so they won’t get stir crazy.  It also saves a parent from getting frazzled.

I entertained them with a new talent that I literally just discovered I have, balloon bending!   I jokingly think that when the mom-gig is over I might just do it full time!

Massimo organized his art supplies and prepared hand stamped envelopes for his birthday.

I also let them watch a whole lot of television because I needed a little time out for myself.

During my time out I made Massimo a do it yourself dinosaur hoodie.  I got the idea from the crafty blog Ginger and George.   The instructions were so easy to follow and it was such a fun snow time activity.  I like the dinosaur hoodie so much that I may make a matching one for Michael, Rocco and myself!

It is night now and I still hear the wind howling and I see the snow falling outside my window.

I am very happy though because the kids are safe in bed and we had a wonderful day snowed in!  Sometimes, the best days ever are the ones where you do nothing, but enjoy each others company.

I hope you all have a great day!

Halloween Is Around the Corner and Making My Own Costume "Do It Yourself" Style!

When you have kids Halloween is a big deal.  It is the one time of year they can knock on every door and ask for treats.

Halloween is the “hall pass” day where our kids are allowed to eat as much candy as they want.  They look forward to this day because I am usually a stickler about not eating too many sweets.

We have picked our pumpkins from the farm and carved the “ghoulish” faces.

Today I am going to share with you my “do it yourself” Halloween costume.  I am not much of a crafty sewer, but I decided to give it a swing and modify a vintage 1960s psychedelic moo moo robe.  My goal was to make it look more of a hip 1960s dress.

I did the following: (For this project I used a sewing machine that I have not touched in over 2 years.)

1.  I cut the dress to make it into a mini dress.

2.  With the fabric that I cut from the hem.  I folded it into half and then cut it into 2 seperate pieces.

3.  I sewed the hems of each of those separate pieces to give it a finished empty pillow case look.

4.  I sewed each of the empty pillow cases on the the under arm of each sleeve.

5.  I stitched the hem of the dress.

At the end of my quick project (30 minutes) I got a Japanese Kimono looking 1960s inspired outfit!

I am so excited about Halloween!  I don’t know who wants to go out more, me or my kids!  The count down for Halloween begins!  I can’t wait to wear my new groovy, foxy outfit!

I hope you have a wonderful and creative day!