We’ve been giving much thought to colors, themes, and painting ideas for both the kids rooms. Both rooms are in dire need of being painted. My daughter’s room could really use new walls period because the paneling is so old and has already been painted once. We might just rip out the paneling and strip the old wallpaper under it, but it’s hard to say at this point. That’s a whole lot of work for just one room, and stripping wallpaper is NOT fun (I already did it once in the living room, and have swore I would never, ever put up wallpaper). My son’s room also needs some attention. The top half has already been painted white, but the bottom half is nothing more than primer. A project that was started a few years ago and never finished – nothing new in this house. So it’s time to start thinking of what...
Eh, sorta. I guess you could call what we made chicken and noodles… Yesterday I pulled out the crockpot and made chicken and noodles….sorta. For some reason the crockpot inspires me to play “let’s see what this makes” every time I decide to cook with it. I had about a pound of leftover chicken from something else (I think it was a sweet and sour chicken experiment), so thought I’d see what I could make with it. Also in the pantry I managed to find cream of chicken soup, cream of mushroom soup, and canned corn. I dumped them all in as-is, with my mother watching over my sholder . She insisted I put in two cans of water to cook, saying it would cook away. Half way through the day, I had something resembling water logged chicken. Too much water, but I had an idea! Just before school got out, I tossed in about...
A friend just passed to me a story about a woman who received chemical burns from flip-flops of all things. Now keep in mind I ALWAYS check these stories at Snopes. This email made it a whole lot easier because the link to the Snopes story was linked directly in the email. The story actually WAS from Snopes! It just makes me sick to know despite how many people get hurt, they keep importing products from China without checking to see if they are safe or not. Granted it’s not always easy to buy American, but you’d be surprised how much you really can still find and how little it actually costs. Just a few weeks ago I was looking for a picture frame and found one made in the USA that was actually cheaper than the Made in China ones. Not a hard choice to make there! So be sure to pass this along to your friends – it’s...
Here we are already in the first week of organizing the house. If you read the first post on this, you’ll know I started with the bathroom last week. While it might seem a bit lazy to only pick one room a week, it actually isn’t a bad idea. Instead of being overwhelmed with all I need to do in one room in one day, I was able to just do a little at a time each day. This helped to not become so overwhelmed and prevented me from quitting. It also helped to form a daily habit of organizing and cleaning each day. So after the first week, I have a completely clean bathroom. It was wonderful to walk into this morning first thing and see it clean. No clothes on the floor, no smudges on the mirror. I had to peek into my closets again to see how great they both looked. I was lucky to already have two very deep closets (one with shelves,...
It’s a miracle. My 5 yr old daughter cleaned her room without even being asked to. Although I suspect it has something to do with the fact I just got her a new shelf for her toys, but I had told her it’s not going in there until the room as clean. I’m actually pretty proud of these shelves, since they cost me a whole $3 at a consignment shop. You just can NOT beat that price, and it was something we really needed. Big toy bins only go so far when you are trying to organize a room. Needless to say we are excited to get it in her room. This is just one step in a very long road to decorate each of the kids rooms. Up until now their rooms have been just a place to “keep their stuff”, but we are in the process of turning each room into “their personal space”. This is a HUGE challenge to say the least. During...
Most of the time lunch is one of those things we don’t give much thought to. We’re more concerned about what’s for supper, and what big meal we’re going to plan. Lunch on the other hand needs to be quick and easy, taking less than 5 mins to do most of the time. Hey we can’t spend all day in the kitchen! Because I have issues with store bread, I try my hardest to keep basic homemade white bread around at all times. Thankfully this is super easy to do in the bread machine. I call it my “no mess” recipe because it uses all dry ingredients and water, so there’s nothing to clean up (except the pan, but it’s easy to rinse out since I use it all the time). Since I keep bread around, sandwiches are a snap. I pick up lunch meat just about every time I go to the store. I also have issues with...
The other night for supper I decided the little smokies in the fridge needed to be used. Around Halloween we make our “bugs” with smokies and biscuit dough, but this time I decided to try a suggestion from a friend. Instead of buying a can of biscuits, I just used dough from the infamous awesome roll recipe. Same idea, just with a homemade twist. There was quite a bit of dough leftover though, so I made a few full size hot dog buns and rolls too. These were SO good with the homemade dough that I will probably keep doing it like this. I’ve also made sandwich buns from this dough as well, which was REALLY good too. Try it out! Read More →
While technically I don’t believe in setting “New Years Resolutions”, I have decided it’s high time my house gets organized. So I’ve made a plan to get my rear in gear and get this house organized once and for all. I’ve always been good with coming up with the ideas and plans, but I lack motivation for action. It could be I’m just overwhelmed and don’t know where to start – so I don’t. Either that or I lose interest have way through my ideas and plans, or get distracted by the next big idea. Regardless, I want to stick with this goal. Plus who knows, maybe posting this in public will help keep me accountable! So here’s the plan – the house needs to be deep cleaned and decluttered. All of it. Every single room in the house is a mess, and needs something done. HUGE jobs...
I had to take a minute and tell you about one of my daughter’s favorite computer games. While it does have a free trial, it does cost after the trial is over. Although I must say it’s really kept her interest and is well worth the money (especially if you buy a membership!). I picked up a few computer games for Christmas, but she’s already beat one and the other she isn’t all that interested in now. But Dora’s Carnival Adventure she keeps going back to. It takes quite awhile to actually “beat” the game. The concept is pretty simple – you play different games to earn tickets. Each game gives different amounts of tickets depending on if you win or lose (or come in 2nd place). For example, one game is a race where you get to pick the character you want to be. You and two other dora characters...
Here we are officially one full week into the new year. A good chunk of you probably had resolutions and goals you wanted to meet this year. So how are they holding up? Yes I know it’s only a week in and your probably doing alright. But as the year wears on, it gets harder and harder to keep up with those resolutions. I know because I’ve let mine slide year after year. Unfortunately they are the usual type of goals – make more money, lose weight, or keep myself more organized. Those empty goals sound good in theory, but really have no real solid plan behind them. I think I’ve come up with my own personal solution to the failing resolution problem though. For one, I don’t care what time of year it is. I don’t wait until January 1st to start a new diet or start cleaning my house. I don’t even care if...
