Wednesday, January 19, 2011

What We Have Been Up To......



First we did this (above). One of the hardest things about our move has been WAY WAY WAY downsizing our laundry area. Like we went from a laundry mansion to a laundry box. Since we moved in we have had dirty laundry in one closet, and clean laundry pretty much all over. That was not taking me to my happy place. Not at all. So a couple of weeks ago Bri and I went to the Depot and spent a couple hours just staring at the storage solution stuff. Can you say quality time? Yeah that's how we do it! But with the space being so small non of the "conventional" units were going to work, so we got creative. We bought 3 of the "wood" shelves and then Bri cut them to the size we need and put brackets up for them. He also took down the shelf that was over head and moved it up higher. And last but not least we put in those 2 baskets for some additional storage. I kinda love it! It really works and makes it so so so much easier to get the laundry done. If I am honest though I still REALLY miss my family closet!

Also I picked up this new cork board to put in my kitchen. (below) After Brian put it up (Command Strips rock!) I thought it looked a little bit plain, so I pulled out the old scrap booking supplies (and by old I mean OLD, I am a scrapbook slacker). And found these little flowers and just pinned them on! Cute!

A few weeks ago I had the girls gather up all our pictures of OPK's (Other People's Kids) so that I could put them on this old giant cork board that I have. (below) I quickly came to 2 conclusions. 1. I need more pictures people! and 2. Old nasty giant cork board, still looks old and nasty when hung on a wall. So I gave Alainna and Griffen some paint brushes and had them paint it brown. I think I might add some ribbon to it but haven't gotten that far yet. But the brown looks much better! This hangs by our back door.



When we moved in about a year ago, we had a vanity war going on in our upstairs bathroom. Nothing fit, nothing looked good and as a special bonus, the builder didn't set the light fixture centered with the sink and faucet. 10 bonus points for that buddy! And let's face it I never go in there so we sort of forgot about it, until the piles or toothpaste in the "guest" bathroom started getting really gross. Apparently you must look at yourself in the mirror when you brush your teeth. So we bit the bullet and just grabbed Mr. Good Enough Mirror and a little storage shelf. WOW! That really helps, I can't really believe how much better it looks. Still don't go in there though.

Filled the girls cubby unit with cubbies. Let's face it, our stuff always looks better when it's hidden!

Put a little bookshelf in the playroom. LOVE my HUNGRY CATERPILLAR, don't judge.

Filled the fabulous IKEA shelf with cubbies, again hidden stuff=better!

And last we rearranged my bedroom. When we moved in we had the turned clockwise against the wall and the big tv mount had a t.v. on it. Lightning took care of the t.v. and we haven't replace it yet. The long chair was under the t.v. and it always felt kind of squished (real word?) I like it so much better this way!! Feels much more roomy! Now all I need is a computer desk (and maybe less computers, they are everywhere) and some decoration. Right, A LOT decoration. Interior decorator I am not!


We still have tons to do, but we are on our way!


'til next time

me

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Weekly Meal Plan (on Tuesday)




Monday- Chicken Parmesan

Tuesday-Meatloaf muffins and mashed potatoes

Wednesday- Breakfast (not sure what yet, but it will include bacon)

Thursday- Grandma's Mushroom Chicken (Family Feasts pg. 106)

Friday- Sloppy Joe's and french fries

Saturday- TBD

Sunday- TBD

I have the meal plan written out but I CAN'T SEEM TO FIND IT!!!! I will post the last 2 meals when I find the damn thing.

'til next time
me

Friday, January 14, 2011

National Delurker Day

I have no faith that I will get any comments or "hi, how are ya's" from any of my lurkers. I tried this a while ago and it was a big flop. But because today is that day and because the post I had planned about organization didn't get written and the post about Maximus and the toothpaste hasn't made it out of head (oh yeah, it's a good one), I will go with the National Delurking Day post.

Maybe I should bribe you all and say, if I can get even 5 comments, just 5, I will write the post tomorrow about Maximus and the toothpaste. I will even throw in a picture. Ok, how about this I will even go alllllll out and throw in the story about the Maximus and the door.

If I am being honest, I am going to write that post anyway. But the comments would be nice. :)

'til next time

me

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Weekly Meal Plan

Monday- Deconstructed Chicken Cordon Bleu (Cooking During Stolen Moments Blog)
w/ Cheesy Garlic Biscuits from Mary Oystns Family Feasts Cookbook (which I love!)

I made this meal and served it with egg noodles and broccoli was VERY VERY good. But it was definitely time consuming in the kitchen. Worth it though if you have the time.

Tuesday- Tacos

Wednesday- White Chicken Chili (Family Feasts)

Thursday- Beef Stroganoff

Friday-Personal Homemade Make Your Own Pizzas

Saturday- Sloppy Joes w/ Fries

Sunday- Garlic Chicken (this has quickly become a family favorite)

Desserts this week:

Dump Cake
Homemade Brownies

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Silent Sunday....


The return of Silent Sunday (mostly).......fly high today.......

'til next time



Thursday, January 6, 2011

A Year Ago Today.......

I lost my mother. Today I start to write about it here.


me

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Disney 2010










Disney World was great! We had a lot of fun and some good family time. There were a few moments when I had to remind myself that it wasn't about the vacation itself, but the memories that we were making for years to come. But all in all I would say it was a success.

We left Thursday right after the kids got out of school and started our travel to Kentucky, to spend the night. Amid all the jokes of, can we get KFC when we get there. Maximus was not to keen on the drive after about an hour but not so awful either. Luckily he seemed to figure out that we were going to be spending A LOT of time in the car and this day was his only cranky driving day of the whole trip.

We were 9 miles from our hotel in Kentucky when we just STOPPED on the highway. No cars were moving at all, people where literally getting out of their cars right on the interstate. 9 MILES PEOPLE!!!! AFTER 6 HOURS OF DRIVING!! We sat there for and hour and fifteen minutes when all of a sudden cars just started going. There was none of that stop start stuff, we went from 0-70 and never did see any sign of what the problem was.


That night we all piled into one hotel room (all 8 of us) and pretty much just passed out where ever, I had either Maximus's feet or butt in my face all night, that is if he was sprawled out across my chest. He's a pretty good little cuddler that one!

We woke up around 8 the next morning and went down to breakfast, made some friends (Maximus is a great ice breaker, he will talk/flirt with anyone), and then we on our way to Georgia!

The Drive to Georgia was uneventful, thankfully and we pulled into our hotel around 8 that night. Yuck, is an understatement. The room was mostly clean I guess. But the area left MUCH to be desired and our cable didn't work or the internet and the rest of the clientele was, ummmmm......interesting? But they had a free hot breakfast buffet so we figured that at least we would be fed in the morning!

EWWW.....gross, what is that? Let's go! Let's go! McDonald's anyone?