~Mission Organization~

    It's almost the new year...can you believe it????  I am still stuck back on Halloween.  Seriously, that was yesterday, right?  Christmas was such a blur.  That could be because our entire family had the flu, including our extended family who we so graciously shared it with.  What's Christmas without sharing, right!? 
    I've been working on my new years resolutions.  My husband and I do this every year.  We write down personal, financial and family goals and then compare our lists.  Our financial and family we talk about and then make a final list of importance for each one.  We worked really hard on them last year and got quite a few accomplished.  It helps to have the list readily available so you can continually look at it and keep yourself accountable. 
    One of my personal goals for this year is to become more organized.  With four kids and numerous activities going on at all times, I need to be organized more than ever.  Being organized means less chaos, less stress and that means..... a happy mom!!
    My first step in this process is making a "family binder".  I have seen these all over the web and think they are a great way to keep important reminders, daily chores, meal plans and so fourth in one place that I can always turn to.  I also keep a "babysitter note" that I reuse, emergency numbers, important dates to remember, seasonal cleaning chore list and of course a folder for each child to keep those all important school papers.  They no longer are piling up on my kitchen counter....they are neatly stored in the appropriate folder until they can be thrown away.  Here are a few pics of my folder and links to some amazing websites for printables and organizing ideas.  ENJOY!!!

Find these free printables at: Miss Poppins

There are TONS of amazing free printables at:Organized Home

OR...find ones that you like and create something similar

where you can personalize it to fit your needs

HAPPY ORGANIZING!!!

and

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

~Green Monster~

No, I am not talking about halloween costumes I am making for the kids.  Actually, I don't even have any of that figured out yet.  Guess I should get on the ball with that one!

I am talking about the yummy, delicious, WAKE ME UP, better than listening to Christmas music (that is saying a TON right there) green monster smoothie.  yummmmmmmm!

I got the (most) ingredients a while back, but honestly the picture of it kind of frightened me and I kept telling myself it was too much work.  Pshaw.  It wasn't at all!!!  It was and still is (I'm still drinking it) delish!

I found the recipe here.  You should definitely check out more than just the smoothie though.  Her blog has tons of yummy recipes on it.

Doesn't it look Yummy???

I have officially learned the lesson that looks can be deceiving.  It looks like processed peas to me.

To make this you need:

1 cup chunked frozen pineapple

1 pear (I used canned and rinsed the syrup off)

1 1/2 cups orange juice

2 1/2 cups baby spinach leaves

3 Tbs ground flax seed

if you want to actually follow the recipe (seriously, does anyone actually do that?)

you will also need 1 banana cut up and 1-2 Tbs honey.

then blend away!

There are a couple of things missing from my picture and it was REALLY sunny in my kitchen.  Sorry!

Then drink and enjoy!  I promise it's delicious!!!

Update:  I made this yesterday and then got bananas today, so I tried it with that.  Both ways are wonderful.  The banana toned down the tartness a bit.



~Last Taste of Summer~

I LOVE living in Iowa.  Especially in the fall.  Not so much in the winter, but every other season is wonderful.  This time of year is particularly beautiful as the trees are turning, the corn and bean fields have browned and color is everywhere.  I love seeing fields dotted with orange pumpkins and I especially love to see yellow and orange leaves laying on top of the green grass.  So pretty! 

I have been doing some deep cleaning in my kitchen the last couple of weeks.  ( I do it in shifts so I don't get burned out) and this is the view that I have out my big kitchen window above my sink.

I love having a wooded ravine for a back yard!

I also picked my random watermelons.  Yes, watermelons in the middle of October.  Talk about random! 

I had my tonsils taken out in July and my mother was here taking care of the kids while I was recovering.  While she was here she told me that we had a melon plant and a tomato plant growing in the back yard.  Our actual yard is pretty small and very shaded, so we didn't think it was possible.  Sure enough a couple of melons showed up and a third later on.  The tomato plant did produce one tomato that was then trampled by the kids. ( It's the plants fault for growing next to the swing set.)

We finally figured out that the melon plant was growing  where everyone spit out their seeds last year. 

Please excuse the yard.  Since we have never grown anything before, we got pretty excited and let the melon plant take over part of the yard. 

I have been watching the melons closely and waiting for the signs that the internet told me to watch for.  Namely when the cord dries up.  Well, today was the day!  I got the kids' wagon to collect my three melons and find out how they did. 

The little melon did not do so well.  It started later and just didn't have time to ripen.

One of the large ones did much better!

This little cutie REALLY liked it!!

What a good way to say good-bye to the warmer temps that we have been having.



~Monday Mania~

I'll get this title figured out one of these days. Input would be graciously welcomed.

This week I am giving a couple of tips and they are BIG ones in my world! They control my every weekday morning which then controls how the rest of my day goes. See? It's HUGE. Mondays are a massive production that remind us we are no longer on summer break. It reminds us that we have responsibilities and schedules that don't always accommodate (easily) the little extras that it takes to put on the productions of each and every day. In order to prepare for the massive production called "THE WEEK," there are things that I have learned to do ahead of time. If I don't, my week is soooooo much more stressful which affects me, my kids, my husband, everyone around me.... It's true. I secretly control the universe. Actually, my moods do.

At the beginning of every month I print off the school lunch menu and sit down with the kids to discuss when they want to eat the school's food or take their lunch. They are allowed to eat school lunch one time a week, but don't have to. My reason behind this....SCHOOL LUNCH IS EXPENSIVE!! For my three school kids to eat it all the time, would cost us over $45 a week. That's over $180 a month. The other reason is because I can make sure and buy things I know my kids will eat. I hate thinking about spending over 3 buckaroos on a lunch where they are probably throwing half of it away.

I mark the initial of whatever child will be taking their lunch to school for each day and then on Sunday evening I prep the meals. Peanut butter and jelly is always part of the menu because my kids LOVE pb&j, but I also have a second option every week. Sometimes it's sausage and cheese kabobs, lunch meat sandwiches cut out in fun shapes (because most of my kids aren't very fond of lunch meat and it makes it a little more fun if they are creatively cut), bagel pizzas and roll ups. There are endless possibilities though. This week we did pb&j and pizza bagels. I also try to have 2-3 sides. A vegetable, fruit, dairy, carb or treat. I should also mention that I portion everything out into serving sizes as soon as I get it home from the grocery store. It's great for quick, on the go snacks or for the meals.

I do everything in an assembly line fashion. Line up the baggies (also pulling them open, placing the bread in top of each one,

then pb on half the slices, j on the other half

 and then smoosh together. I like to smoosh them because a couple of my kids like to pull them apart and that drives me b....atty. You thought I was going to say bonkers didn't you? Ha, fooled you!

For the pizza bagels I lay out the baggies (already pulled open) then lay one half of a bagel on each bag. I bought these great little containers online at eBay which work great for holding the sauce, cheese, pb for celery, ranch for carrots and so forth. I had small Tupperware containers that I was using, but I no longer have any as Little D threw all of them away at school as he was throwing everything else away. I seem to learn my lessons the hard and expensive way.

 

Anyway, a Teaspoon of sauce in one, then a little bit of cheese and the pizza bagels are ready to go. Then decide what the sides are. Remember, everything has already been portioned out so all I have to do is grab the baggies, put them in containers and then the next morning the kids know to pull one item from each section or container.

It has worked GREAT!!! The kids know that, after breakfast, they need to go get their lunch boxes (which are stored in the cedar chest in the piano room) and put their lunches together. There is no arguing over what they will have that day because they know they have to choose from what is already there.

~ A Cheery Welcome~

Sorry it has been a few days since I last blogged.  I had a friend who was hurting a husband who was leaving and children who were, well, they were being children.  Enough said.

In the midst of it all, I have completed another project.  I am on a roll baby!  This one only took two years to do.  I know, I'm fabulous!  And I'm blogging from a place that is not the dark, furthest from the world, corner in my basement.  My new space is not necessarily pretty yet, but I am only 10 steps away from the kids, the kitchen and only 3 from the bathroom.  In the basement I was at least 4 away from the bathroom.  That extra step is killer.  I kid!

I know I have mentioned before how much I dislike the hunter green in my house and how much, apparently, the previous owners liked it.  That and carpet in the bathroom.  Yuck!  Well, we had gotten rid of the linoleum in the half bath and the kitchen that had hunter green diamonds in it and we have gotten rid of one more thing.  The front door.  We didn't actually get rid of the door, just the hunter green paint on it.  I even took a before picture.  I am really becoming a pro at this!

The previous owners used a brush on the door and they went in different directions.  It drove me bonkers.  They also tried to touch up a couple of spot with a different green paint that did not match.  You can't see it here, but I saw it ALL. THE. TIME.  It drove me bonkers too.

I really wanted to do it right and do a good job at it, so first off I needed to take off all the hardware.  The door knocker was easy.  It was just held onto the door with some 3M adhesive.  Next came the dead bolt.  I took the screws out from the inside, took the piece that the screws were holding in place and then tried to take the rest of the pieces apart.  Nothing.  So I unscrewed the side where the deadbolt actually comes out as those were the only other screws I could see.  Nothing.  I pulled, I wiggled and still..... Nothing.  I thought about calling my husbands friend, who happened to be working down the street, and seeing if he could come play husband for a few minutes and take it off for me but I thought that might be inappropriate.  I think that was a good call.  So I did the next best thing....

 and taped around the dead bolt and door knob.  If my husband doesn't like it, when he gets home, then he can take them off and finish the painting.

I chose the color Red Rebellion from Valspar.  I also used a small foam roller and one of my crafting foam brushes.  Painting the front door is a form of crafting. 

After one coat:

Two coats:

AND the final coat:

It is not a dark red.  It is more of a rusty red.  A red orangeyish color.

OH... and since I taped around the hardware, I used an xacto knife to cut around them before I took the tape off.  Just enough to cut through the paint and be able to pull the tape off cleanly.  It worked great!

I did a lot of research before doing this and found that the best way to roll is to gradually put less pressure on the roller as you go along.  I would push hard at first and then go back over it more gently.  it really gave it a nice finish and almost covered up all of the brush strokes.  Enough so that I think I can look past them now.

Only two more hunter green things left to go.  One of them is also in the near future.   Can't wait to show you that project, which I will not be doing, but will be managing my husband while he does it.  I'm great at that!

~Button Bracelet by E~

Quick and to the point, right?

Well, if you didn't read my post yesterday, E did a craft. She loves to try to make lots of things but this was her first REAL crafting. I helped her by doing the any sewing needed.  Here's what we did and what she did on her own.

First we found ribbon that went with her color scheme and sewed it to some elastic.

In order to keep everything stretchable, sew a little ways on the elastic and ribbon until you can grab it on the back side of the sewing machine foot. Once you can grab it, pull the elastic tight on both ends and while keeping the ribbon centered, sew down the middle.

It will look like this:

Then lay it flat on your work surface (you may need to put a weight on each end) and start laying out your buttons.

Once you like how something looks together, hot glue it together. I have seen where some sew it to the elastic. We kept it simple and E was able to do that entire process (other than the sewing) on her own.

Once everything is glued down, overlap the ends and sew them together.  I went over it multiple times to make sure it would hold.

Project complete!! Good job E!!!

~Saturday ups and downs~

It has been a CRAZY day around here.  I'm exhausted, frustrated and ready for 7:30 to roll around.  Who am I kidding????  As soon as 7 hits, those kids are goin to bed!  OK.... when the movie is over, which will probably be 7:30.  If it's later though.....I'm stopping the movie. 

I woke up with great plans and expectations for my day.  THAT was my first problem. 
Big D was gone for the day, playing farmer, and then tailgating before going to the big ISU vs Texas game.  He has some great friends that let him play farmer at their house and then give him a ticket to the game.  He doesn't get a ticket for playing farmer. ( That would be silly)   He just got invited this time because someone else couldn't go.

Since I was playing single mom for the day, I decided to go get some supplies I needed for projects I am working on.  It was a beautiful morning and I just knew that going to five stores with four kids....NO, my four ANGELS,  was going to be no problem.  I even took my camera with me to snap cutsie little pics of my perfect children posing with our fabulous finds.  Ha! 
First store was great.  Dollar Store!  I let each kids pick something to take home.  A couple of them were sweet enough to bring their own money.  The other one was too smart for that idea.  My baby just wanted gum, which I already had.  GREAT!!

Second store was Michaels.  I don't know what happened between 9:30 and 10 but all of a sudden the stores were completely packed, AND, the store had like 50 rolling ladders in every other aisle that my cart could not get around.  So then, frustrated mommy and four kids were trying to gracefully back out of those aisles.  We did leave with some fun finds though, so I left still excited for the day to continue.

Third store: Pier One.  Found a couple of awesome items that will work great in a space I am redoing, the kids didn't touch a single item AND I even got complimented from another shopper on how well behaved my children were and how proud I should be of them. 

Fourth store:  TJ Max.  Totally packed again, with internationals that decided to talk in the middle of the aisles and therefore I couldn't get through with my cart.  (I'm thinking right now that I am going to invent flying carts.... for people with children only..... better yet...flying packs for mothers with small children only AND "move to the front of the line for free" passes.  Yes, I am brilliant!)  I was going to get E a coffee mug because apparently 8, almost 9 year olds need them, and an oven mitt, because I only have one and I can't leave a store without buying something.  For myself.   I was going to buy those things, until....(have you noticed I like to ..... A LOT!  I do.  It's a disease....)  UNTIL.... I saw the line was 20 shoppers deep.  I needed one of those "move to the front of the line for free" passes.  We laid our two items in a random pile that looked like 40 other people had done the same, and left.  Please don't judge me right now.  Remember there were lots of internationals, that didn't speak english and they were blocking the aisles, AND I had four kids with me. I left with nothing.  No oven mitt.  No coffee mug for my eight year old.  I felt defeated and weak.  But I had one more place on my list.

Am I up to five?  Yep.  Fifth store:  Hancock fabrics.   Pretty fabrics make me happy.  The possibilities are endless as are the patterns.  I'm smiling right now.  :) see.  I found fabric that I was looking for and although I was a little bummed by the price per yard, buying the things already made was going to be 3 times more expensive, so I decided to spend the most I have ever spent before, per yard, and enjoy my final victory.  WELL, when I went to have the fabric cut, I was told it was half off!  My headache suddenly went away.  I was able to stand up straight again, instead of hunched over.  SCORE!!!  And I walked to the check out lane with my head held high.  While the kids and I waited in line of the slow cashier that I seem to get wherever I go (It doesn't really bother me, I just notice that I always get them) I asked the kids if they would like McDonalds for lunch.  I was obviously feeling my day was going exceedingly well.  So well, in fact, that I offered to eat INSIDE at McDonalds.  If you know me, I do not eat inside a restaurant with four kids unless 1: the food is ordered from and brought to our table  2: It is kid friendly but there aren't an over abundance of kids, and 3: I have another adult to help me.  I thought I was going to get mother of the year, OK... day, award and my children were going to cheer and tell everyone how blessed they were to have me for their mom.  Instead, Little D declares he does not want McDonalds, he wants Taco Johns.  In which everyone starts arguing about where we should eat.  OF COURSE everyone has to yell because you can't be heard over the other person because they are yelling too.  Did I mention that I was in the line with the slow cashier?  I was beginning to be bothered by her at this point.  Then Little D asks if he can get a happy meal at the McDonalds but not eat any of it because he only wanted the toy.  I honestly thought about it, but decided if he didn't eat I would be dealing with that issue the rest of the day. 

We finally got out of there, decided to do drive through McDonalds and PB and J for Little D at home.  Great plan!  Until, the line at McDonalds was 20 cars deep.  I decided to run inside, as it looked slow there, and grab everything to go.  I placed my order and waited.  While I waited Mr. Other Customer decided that there must not be a personal bubble space that needs to be respected.  Again, if you know me, I am very bothered by ANYONE being in my personal bubble space.  The space is different for different levels of people.  I won't go into that now as I have already written a book, but there is.  Anyway, this gentleman decides to stand nearly shoulder to shoulder with me.  No one else was up there waiting, there was plenty of other places to stand and even lean on things.  He was on one side while his little boy was on the other side of me.  We looked like a family.  I'm sure we made a lovely family, but they were not MY family.  It was very awkward to say the least.

That is the story of my 9-12.  Yes... that was only 3 hours.  It felt like it was half of a year.  A season at least.  I did not want to craft or work on anything when I got home.  OH, and my fries were stale and cold.  Such a bummer for someone who eats McDonalds only a few times a year. 

Instead, I helped E do a little crafting.  I just gently showed her that there is no wrong way to do it.  It was completely up to her and that however she chose to do HER project, it would be perfect.  I don't usually do that either.  I'm a control freak.  Not today though.  I'm tired, weak and wishing I had picked up Hy-Vee chinese for supper.  Hy-Vee chinese makes everything better.

I will do a quick and to the point post tomorrow about E's fabulous accessory that she made.  She is very excited and can't wait to start wearing it.  She's my kind of gal!  Next Saturday, as Big D will be gone again, I will stay home.  In my pajamas.  A-l-l,  D-a-y,  L-o-n-g.  Happy Weekend!!

Oh, and as you can see, there were no pictures taken.  Pushing a cart with one child sitting in it while three are trying to ride on the sides, and taking pictures is not possible.  Especially when one child gets off of one side and the cart tips over because it is suddenly off balance.  Lesson learned and noted. 

~Craft Day~

Well a few days have gone by but I have been super busy crafting, fixing up, managing my husband while he fixes up;)  We HAVE been really busy and are getting a ton done.  I've also tried some new recipes.  My only wish with recipes is that everyone could agree for once.  There are usually at least two people in the family that don't like whatever it is I am making.  It can be quite deflating after working hard on a meal.

My highlight of the week was definitely Tuesday in which I was invited to a "Craft Day" at a neighbors house.  I had so much fun meeting new people and talking about common interests.  I can't wait to do it again.  There were several crafts to choose from, OH....and I must say that I am dealing with the green envy bug after being in the hostess' house.  I told my husband, numerous times, that day that her kitchen was a dream.  I came away with so many ideas that I got a headache from trying to contain them all.  OK.... not really, but I was overwhelmed with everything that I absolutely loved about her house.  I think next time I am there, I will snap some pics of my favorite things.  With her permission of course.

OK, so back to craft day.  There were several ideas and you could choose whatever and however many you wished to make.  I chose to stick with one and not overwhelm myself.  I'm glad I did too because I still got overwhelmed:P  I knew ahead of time what I was going to work on and what I was going to do with it.  Being my first craft day, I wasn't sure what to expect, so I pretty much went completely prepared with my idea and my supplies. 

This is what I started off with: 

A lovely vintage tray.  I love the retro feel but it definitely would not work in my house.  The other ladies decided to paint theirs with chalk board paint and use it as a cute chalk board for their kitchens.  Our host even had one done already as an inspiration piece.  It was super cute.  My inspiration was a magnetic board that I decided to personalize and use in an office space.

First off:

a couple coats of oil rubbed bronze spray paint!  Love!!

Then I carefully tried to center my stencil that I had made that morning via my cricut, onto the tray.  It was cut from contact paper, so I rubbed it on my pant leg for a few minutes to make it less sticky.  I was worried about it peeling some of the paint off.  It also took me a while to get it centered.  

Once I got my stencil where I wanted and covered the rest of the tray, I painted the stencil using heirloom white. 

The result:







As you can see, my stencil still took some of the oil rubbed bronze paint off and there is a little bit of touching up that needs to be done where some over spray got through, but the more I have had it sitting at my house, the more pleased I am with it. 

In order to use it as a magnetic board, my friends have suggested that I spray a clear coat on top to prevent the magnets from scratching the paint.

For the time being:

It is simply part of a display.

I now love where the stencil took off some of the paint.  It looks like an old piece and works great in our house.  It might move.  I have a couple of other places in which I think it would look great.  That's a good problem to have:)

So go off and have your own craft day with some friends.  I'm so glad that I stepped outside of my comfort zone of being an introvert, and going to meet some incredible ladies.  It was great to share stories of our lives, talk about our love to decorate and create and just have great fellowship. 

Have fun!!!

~Managing the Mania Mondays~

Hubby and I were extra busy this last weekend and I can't wait to show you some projects that we got done, and are in the middle of. Mr. D got my deck power washed, so I was able to start staining it. Now it has gotten my brain to envision a mini makeover that won't cost a lot but will have major impact. I love those kinds of makeovers. I made some delicious recipes that I got off of Pinterest. You can see them here and here. AND a new office area might be in the works. It's currently in the "negotiation" process with the hubs. 

It's also Monday again.  I dread it and at the same time I look forward to it.  I'm so indecisive.  I love it because I go from four kids to just one and I love my time with my baby, but it also means another week of piano lessons, basketball and football practice, Awana and pushing the memorizing, practicing piano and reading logs.  Yes, I know I should also do that on the weekend, and we do, sometimes....when we think about it.....which might not be very often.  During the week I am expected to be at the top of my game, "Miss organization".  As my husband is off working to bring home the bacon, I am expected to keep the house picked up, get kids to everything that they need to get to, help them practice all of their things, and make meals.  OH, and be the law enforcement.  I really don't like the last one, but that one might be the most important. 
This week I'm showing you our "piano room".  That is pretty much all it is used for, so that is what we call it.  It also has a couple of small uses but the piano is the main item in the room, hence, "piano room". 

I think one thing that I have learned in trying to "manage the mania"  is that I can't do it alone.  I mean, I can, but I get really stressed and burned out picking up after 6 people all the time.  I get my family involved in the process to help cut down on the stress.  Sometimes this works, and sometimes it might cause a little more stress.  This room gets a lot of book bags dropped on the floor, school papers taken out and thrown on the floor ( because if you are 8 and younger, that is apparently the logical place to put them), hubby's shoes and gym bag, and because I, myself am not perfect....an occasional purse (logical place).  The key to keeping rooms picked up is to have a set place for those items that seem to accumulate.  This room isn't meant to accumulate anything except piano books.  It is meant to stay clean and picked up because, aside from the entryway and stairs, it is the first thing people see when they are standing at or inside my front door.  So the purpose for this room is simple and every problem that seems to occur has a logical place to go that is well known to each owner of the problem.  Fancy wording, I know :)  Gettin my smart on ;) 

I do have one storage area in this room.  I think every room should have some kind of storage, even if it's small.  I also think it's a great idea if it is attractive, fits the space and can maybe do double duty.  Ours is a cedar chest that used to belong to my grandmother.  We use it as seating and it also holds school work for my kids to do during the summer, reading books for my "learning to read" children and a school box with crayons, pencils, erasers....anything my kids might need to complete their homework that they bring home from school.  It is easily accessible and they know exactly where to go to get it and put it away.  That is KEY people!!!  I can't stress it enough.  They must know 1:  Where to get and put things and 2: it must be easy for them to do.  If it's too hard, too high, or too far away... they won't do it or they will need to ask you to help them do it.  The last key, if this is new to them, is to remind them each time until it just becomes habit.  It took my kids a couple of weeks to remember, but now they are pros at it.

I have one more suggestion if you have a room like this.  There are some things that I am just ok if they stay out.  Example:  piano books.  If they are put away, I forget and the kids forget to practice.  If they are out, sitting on the piano and ready to go, we walk by that space all the time and are constantly reminded that they need to practice.  Life isn't perfect and neither does your house need to be.  Organized in a usable manner is what I am looking to achieve.  I live here along with 5 other people.  This is not a show house, it is our loved house that we use all the time.

~A hug + a kiss = mommy bliss~

I've been enjoying lots and lots of hugs and kisses from my little man lately. They aren't just ordinary hugs and kisses either. He really gets into it and squeezes while grunting. You know....because he is squeezing sooooo hard! I love my little man to pieces and I am so blessed to get him all to myself during the day. He loves snuggle time on the couch and thinks I am the absolute best when I make him hot dogs for lunch. I get extra hugs and kisses when I make him that. It takes a lot of work, but I'll do anything for that guy;)
I'm taking the day to catch up on housework and to give my stress over the computer a little break. Have a great day!!

~Mongolian Beef~

I have officially decided that I hate computers.  Maybe the ipad and phones too.  Yeah....my phone drives me nuts. 
I have spent the first three and a half hours, this morning, trying to add a personalized navigation bar at the top of my blog.  See the pretty "Home" button.  That is the result.  Don't all rush to compliment me on a job well done, all at once now....  I do not claim to be at all tech savvy.

My "about me" says that I like to cook.  I REALLY do!!!  My blog doesn't show signs of that yet, but today that is going to change and you guys get to be the lucky readers to read my first ever cooking post.  Side note:  I like to cook, not so much bake.  Measuring is not exactly a top priority in my world.  Either is turning on the oven.  Don't ask why because I really don't know........  Hmmm, things for me to ponder the rest of my day.  ANYWAY, I wanted to first say, WOW.  Trying to take pictures while fixing a meal I have never made before while not exactly knowing how to work my camera, plus having four kids running through the kitchen and screaming, and making a complete mess.  Let's just say.....everyone who has a cooking blog is AMAZING in my book.  I was stressed out with just trying to take pictures of food.  That is really hard!!  I mean REEEEAAAAALLLLLYYYYYY hard.  It's not the person running the camera either.  Honest.  It's not.  I mean it.

Mongolian Beef:
I got this recipe from Pinterest which led me to here.  We all know and love Pinterest, don't we?  I do.  I like to waste lots of time on it.  But when I can make an entire weeks menu from just what I find on there, I don't consider it a waste at all.  My husband might feel differently.

You will need:
1 lbs of flank steak, thinly sliced crosswise (I have four kids, so I used 2 lbs of sirloin steak)
1/4 cup of cornstarch (didn't have, so I used flour in the same amount)
3 teaspoons of canola oil divided
1/2 teaspoon of grated ginger (about 1/2 inch piece)  (I used dry)
1 tablespoon of chopped garlic (about 2 -3 large cloves)
1/2 cup of water (I used 3/4 cup)
1/2 cup of soy sauce (I use low sodium) (I used 3/4 cup)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes (didn't have, so I used a pinch of cayenne pepper)
3 large green onions, sliced crosswise into thirds  (oops...I forgot in all the chaos:)

So I took the steak and patted it dry with a paper towel, cut it according to the instructions.  Crosswise means against the grain.  If you take your steak and pull it in different directions, you will see the way the meat pulls.  You want to cut it in the opposite direction.  Then I added the flour, mixed her up with my freshly washed hands and set it aside.


I put half of the canola oil in a large pan and heat it up.  (Note on the next step.... have your ingredients measured out and ready to add.  It will prevent anything from burning.)  I added the garlic and ginger and then immediately added the rest of the ingredients, except green onions.
Cook that for a couple of minutes, transfer to a bowl and set aside.
 
Put the rest of the oil in the pan and add the meat.  I started adding it slowly so I could get some nice browning on my pieces but I soon realized that, despite my monstrous pan, I was still going to have too much meat to have just a single layer, so I decided to just throw it all in and cook it until brown.  Then add the sauce and cook until it thickens up to your desired likeness.


I served mine with white rice and sauteed green beans. 

So my thoughts on this dish?  YUM!!!  I would do some things differently, like probably cut my meat a little thicker or cook the sauce longer before doing the meat.  I wanted the sauce to be a thinned gravy consistency and ended up overcooking my meat.  I also added a little bit of honey to the sauce at the end, but don't think I needed to.  I would also, DEFINITELY, add the green onios next time.  I didn't realize I had forgotten until I was plating it up.  I was very sad:(

Enjoy!!!

~Promise Kept~

I promised you yesterday that I would FINALLY show you our floors.  Just a quick recap of what I'm talking about.  The floors in our house were covered in either hunter green tile, linoleum with hunter green triangles in it or light gray carpet.  When we first looked at our house we knew immediately that we would be working on the floors.  It started in the master bathroom.  It had light gray carpet.  YES! Carpet in the bathroom.  I refused to move in until it was taken out because I was positive there was a "ring" around the toilet.  No one else saw it until we ripped the carpet out.  Sure enough..... a ring.  NASTY, GROSS, DISGUSTING!!!  Need I say more?   My father-in-law was so kind to tile it for us and have it ready before we moved in.  We thought we would start right away on the main floor but something came up.  Something called, Dave Ramsey.  He's my enemy and yet I love him.  Actually I've never met him, but he is still amazing!  Anyhow.... it took us a couple of years to save up the cash to do what we wanted to and of course the extras that we weren't expecting or decided to do on a whim.  If you read yesterdays second post from the past, you read about our half bath.  So, I didn't take pics before.  I know, bad, but that is on my goal list for, well, from now on. 

So, Just imagine this hunter green tile in the entryway and this light gray carpet everywhere else:

And after a month of tremendous effort and work on....my husband's part:)

WALLAH!!!

 The light gray carpet went into our dining room and was just super lovely with stains from coffee and spaghetti sauce all over it.  I was so sad to see it go.  NOT!!  Now a quick sweep, no more tears over the spilled milk, and a swiffer wet jet every so often.  I love it!  That's an understatement.  I love IT more than I love Dave Ramsey, but not as much as I love MY Dave:)

Now onto something that I actually did.  Yes, I do things too.  Remember, as long as it takes two hours or less;)  I love the Nester and I got this fabulous idea from her which she got from random other places.  I did allot of research on the paper wreath and ended up liking her version of it the best.  I won't show my process as it is everywhere online and you can go  here to see how the Nester did hers. 

I picked an aged book as I didn't want it to be stark white.  It ended up being much bigger than I had anticipated as well.  So, it took me 30 hot glue sticks, a couple of burned and blistered fingers and almost 2 hours to complete.  I WAS CUTTING IT CLOSE!!  The Nester said that hers took less than an hour, but I think I rolled my pages a little tighter, therefore needing more of them. 

I love it and hope you guys feel inspired to go craft away on something.  I know I feel inspired to do more. 

~Thoughts From The Past~

I found this in my archive of saved posts for later. I enjoyed taking a moment to look back and remember those times. Even though they really weren't that long ago, those few months seem like years. If only they took that long to grow up. Enjoy!


I'm watching my two year old sweetly looking under the couch for a toy he had two seconds ago and has suddenly disappeared. He lifts up one side of the sofa skirt and makes a few sounds then lifts up the other one while making the same sounds, then repeats the process without moving. As he finds the toys he says "tada", pulls them out from under the couch puts them on the floor and then walks away from them.
My five year old asked if I could get ice-cream at the grocery store we were at yesterday. He said " Mom, can we PLEASE get some ice cream? We can hide it from dad". Dad really likes ice cream and ends up eating all of it. I responded by saying that maybe we could get two containers of ice cream so dad can have some as well. My son then says "we'll let dad have some and THEN we will hide it"
I've been enjoying my children lately. Sentiment has set in since I took my third child to kindergarten roundup. I hate to say it, but it does NOT get any easier. So I have been boo hooing and feeling quite sorry for myself recently.
On top of the emotions we are in the midst of updating certain areas in our home. To be more specific, the flooring on almost our entire main level which has escalated to the redo of our half bath. We decided to go ahead and tile the floor in there with the same tile that we were doing our entryway in. Well, our future goals for the bathroom were to take out the cabinet and sink and replace it with a pedestal sink, so we had to do that at the same time as the floors and now the current mirror won't look right with the new sink and then the light fixture looks totally out of place and then so does everything else in the bathroom. Good thing it's only a half bath and a small one at that, but somehow the cost is still atrocious. So our "piano room" aka formal sitting room, is now the resting place for the new sink, everything that came out of the bathroom, trim from the entryway and the bathroom and a box of wood flooring that hasn't even been started yet. The bad part of this reno hasn't even started yet and I'm beginning to go batty with the mess that somehow has built up everywhere. Apparently the viewpoint of children (and sometimes husbands) is that if one room in the house is that messy then all of them should be. I finally lost it last night and went on a major clean up mission.
But today I realize how fortunate I am to have this chaos and stress in my life. I'm blessed beyond belief to have the four children that cause some, most of that. I'm blessed to have a husband who is willing to tear apart our house and create the humongous mess that is causing most of that stress, in order to make it more beautiful than ever. I'm even blessed to have a house in which we can create the chaos in.
I'm sure that God often sees my heart the same way. A huge mess that needs lots of work, lots of cleaning and a whole lot of patience. I hope He sees me as a work in progress and not something that is not worth the time.
What things in your house can you relate to your life?

~Absence Makes The Heart Grow Fonder~

Well, time has gotten away from me once again, but I think I was kind of heading towards a hiatus after re-reading my last post.  I am happy to announce that things are back to normal (as normal as they can be) and my priorities have been re prioritized and put in their proper place.  I have actually been wanting to blog for a while but my husband got something sweet called an ipad and my small brain couldn't seem to figure out how to blog from it, AND my computer is in a corner in the basement in which I was too lazy to walk down to.  Just keepin it real folks!

I am going to post pics later of the no longer light gray carpet.  FINALLY a project completed.  It's probably complete because I really had nothing to do with it.  My attention span is pretty short, so if it takes over, oh.... let's say two hours, I'm ready to move on.  This project took about a month and I was seriously just ready to just live with things the way they were.  PROMISE!!!  PINKY PROMISE!!!!  pics tomorrow.

Today I have decided to start an organizing Monday.  Maybe we can call it.... ok, I got nothin.  Technically Sunday is the day that I get things ready for the following, very busy, week.  But I am not going to add blogging to my Sundays so we are just going to go with the flow of Organizing Monday.  I'm going to start from my front door and work my way through each room of my house and explain how I keep things picked up, organized while making my life as easy as it possibly can be.  I like easy!
 
First up is the front entry way:

                                                                                                   ~teeny tiny itty bitty~
It can be a horrible place.  Ours falls right in front of our stairs to the upper level and you can also see it through the windows on the side of our front door.  Horror to think that someone, even a salesman, might walk up, ring the door bell and look in to see shoes thrown around, coats on the floor and hats and gloves everywhere.  It's also itsy, bitsy...teeny, tiny.  Allot of events happen in this small space and I need to make sure that it is ready to handle the crazy running to the school bus mornings, or the "I'm home dear" moments, while still being welcoming for any visitors that stop by.
It wasn't long ago that the now nice beige, neutral tile, was a hunter green.  SHINY forest hunter green.  The people who lived here before really liked hunter green.  Anyway, you can see not allot of space.  To make things work for our needs I needed something to organize coats, shoes, hats, gloves, keep clutter down, and help me to easily clean it as everyone has to walk through that itty bitty space to either go up or to come down.  I hate tracking sand, grime, dirt and everything else around the house. 
 To organize everything, I use two things.  A coat rack that has a hook for each member of the family and a stool that can hold hats and gloves in the baskets and people can sit on to put their shoes on.  Now, most of our things are organized in the garage.  The children are NOT going to be wearing more than one coat at a time, so they are allowed one coat in the entryway.  Each school age child gets a basket for their hats and gloves as the rest of us are leaving through the garage where our things are stored.  Only necessities are kept in the entryway.  TEENY TINY space people!!  WORK WITH WHAT YOU HAVE and what your needs are.  As far as school bags, lunch boxes and so fourth go, they are stored in the garage, where my kids first go through when they get off the bus, until I get them every morning and lay out for each wonderful little angel.  Shoes are the same way.  Only the school age children need shoes there, so they start off in the garage and then head to the front entry every morning.  My husband also uses this space and just throws his things down.  I then throw them in the garage.  An eye for and eye people....:)  I do throw them with love! 
So that is the low down on the first thing you see when you walk in my door.  Tomorrow I will show you the new addition to my tiny space.  It only involved 30 glue sticks, 2 hours (the limit of my attention span.  I was cutting it close!) and some skin and blisters.  Totally worth it all.  I'm completely elated over it and can't wait to share!

Priorities

I've been absent quite a bit lately.  I had a "heart check" recently.  Not literally but mentally and realized that some things that should be a priority have not been as much and I realized that I needed to change that.  I love blogging and doing things, but I don't always have the money, even the slightest bit, or the time.  Recently it has been a case of both. 
From working a few extra hours cleaning apartments for my husband, then going home to try to get motivated to clean my own house, to school, church activities and so forth I have been busy and emotionally drained.  I get that way when I pack too much in.  So blogging has been put on the shelf for a bit while I get things back in order.  Thankfully the extra work hours will come in handy as I save up for my husbands upcoming birthday present.  It's a biggie.  Although I'm still in the dark on how much it will cost.  That could be a problem!!  But I love the fact that I can actually save up on my own and not ask my husband if I can have some extra money to buy HIS birthday present with.  Please don't misunderstand that.... My husband does not rule over me with a ruler or whatever, but I don't really keep up with the whole finance thing.  I have a basic idea of what we have, where money is going and so forth, but I don't know what is left to pay, what is extra in the account and what needs to be set aside for other things I may be unaware of.  So I ask. 
I have some new ideas that I am looking into and researching and hopefully in the next couple of months we will be working on a major project in our house that we have been wanting to do since the day we bought it.  Can't wait.  It may involve light gray stained carpet...... or not, I guess you will just have to stay tuned to find out.

~Spring Fever~

My birthday celebrations have extended into this weekend.  Am I a lucky girl or what!?!?!  I get to go on a double date with my best friend and her husband.  We actually do this once a month, but everyone decided since my birthday was last weekend that I get to choose where we go.  I look forward to this every. single. month.  As a stay at home mom of four, you can imagine how desperate I can get for conversations that don't involve how many times someone went potty in their pants, or say "no" for the 100th time that someone cannot have a snack 5 minutes before supper.  But something else has got me SUPER excited today.   The weather.

This week has been bitterly cold with temps in the negative digits and wind chills about 20* below that.  BRRRR!!!  So I checked the weather forecast today and saw that next Friday we are predicted to get in the high 50's!!!!!!  I wondered why this morning I woke up and decided to vacuum, dust, get all laundry done, clean bathrooms, wash bedding and so on.  My motivation is sky high and it's because the spring fever has hit, and it's hitting hard.  I'm wishing, and hoping and praying....la la la..... that these temps are not just teasing us.  Last year my dream was to be the first lawn in our neighborhood to have all it's snow gone.  Those were BIG dreams since our lawn seems to get allot of the snow from the street across from us, plus the sun doesn't hit parts of our lawn at all.  Despite all of my best efforts..... throwing snow down the drain at the base of our driveway, dumping boiling water on the huge snow drifts at the sides of our driveway, ( would not recommend that option, neighbors will think you are a CRAZY woman)  we were the last yard to have no snow left.  So my goal this year, to not be last.  I'm not going to do anything crazy ( at least not in the open daylight) but I saw signs of grass next to my house this morning ( cue the angels singing ). 
This winter has not been bad at all, but spring is beckoning me. 

I'm ready to say goodbye to this:

( He's a bit skinnier today )

And say HELLO to this:

                                                          Has your spring fever hit yet?



Recipe for the perfect Birthday

I celebrated my birthday this weekend and it was super spectacular, but it wasn't because I had a big huge party, or got allot of gifts.  It involved:

Non of this:  

A little bit of this:  

with the best mom ever!

A tiny bit of these:

Some of this:

Lots of this:

And the best part......................................................  An entire weekend with all of these:

Must say, that truly WAS the best part.