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Showing posts from February, 2014

Thrifty Thursday: Dishes Into Garden Art

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Happy Thursday everyone!  Here is the second rendition of my Thrifty Thursday series.   I'm excited about it, are you? Last fall after one of my daughter's soccer games we had stopped at this very small community center and checked out a bazaar.   They had your typical handmade items, but there was one thing that totally struck me as a great gift.    This yard art.   I thought to myself, "I can totally make these for Christmas gifts." And that is exactly what I did.   The girls and I went to our nearest thrift store, which happens to be Goodwill, and we ransacked the plates, bowls, votive holders, everything.   We placed them together in the cart, trying to match up and come up with the absolute best combinations possible. We made a variety of garden art, along with my BFF, making some for her family.  Which her family just loved them.  They raved and raved about how they just loved the garden art. My family, on the other hand, I'm not so sure what the

Out with the Old and In with the New

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So far, this week, has just been one. of. those. weeks .  I'm already to have it be done, but at the same time, I have soooo much to do and wish I could gain some extra days!   I still need to finish up Baby Girl's room.  When I l ast left you, my To-Do List was still pretty long.   I have yet to tackle any of that since last week. We've had a little bit of a hiccup when we got home from the coast this weekend.  Our oven was no longer working for us. Now, before we jumped right into a new range purchase, we did check to see if maybe it was just the element that wasn't working, but much to no avail, it wasn't the element.   We do a lot of home cooking, so not having a functioning oven/stove top range was NOT something we could live with.  But at the same time we were not 100% ready to be purchasing a new appliance in the kitchen, because we still want to completely redo our kitchen. Both The Mister and I talked about what we wanted.   ·         Double ove

Meal Plan Monday: 2/24/2014

Happy Monday everyone!   Did you have a great weekend?   The Mister and I were able to slip away for a couple of nights to the coast for the annual Newport Seafood and Wine festival.   It was an adults only getaway and much needed for us.   We don't have date nights all that often so anytime we can get together, just the two of us, we savor every moment of it. When we had arrived at home yesterday, a little tired and worn out, I had really wanted our lasagna, which I had in the freezer and ready to be cooked.  However, unfortunately, I found out the hard way, that our oven decided that it was no longer going to cook.   So, that's what our week is going to be focused on…shopping for a new oven. So with that said, here is our weekly menu.   It's going to be 100% crock-pot meals and/or the grill, since that's how we are cooking everything these days.   Monday: Rotisserie Chicken with grilled veggie skewers   (yellow and green zucchini’s, onion chunks, mushroom

Come On Lets Go and Play

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"Do you wanna build a snowman? Come on lets go and play" Who else has some Frozen loving kids humming that tune around their house?   What a great movie!  Well done, Disney, well done.  As soon as the first snowflake fell, nearly two weeks ago, I had a young lady running around singing this song.  It was pretty cute.   The excitement was pretty high at our house, since the last time we had any significant snowfall was the Winter of 2008-2009, which is faaar too long for any kiddo, and quite frankly, this mom to wait.  We love the snow. The furry kids having a blast together From our front window View from our back-side yard The kids had a blast. The girls Neighbor boys with Bubba on the end Then the ice came. Then the rain came.  :( We had a fun few days before our snow received a 'warm hug' and went away.

Painting in Gradient Colors

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Guess who has their computer up and running?!?   THIS GIRL!!!  I can finally show you everything I've been working on! This was one of those projects that seems really simple and easy when you think of them, but then only become a long drawn out project.  I have to admit, it was harder than I thought that it would be.  I, personally, think it's because I am my own worst critic, and boy did I keep criticizing myself over and over again.  I really wanted this to look perfect for my little lady. When I started Operation Room Makeover for my young lady, her room looked like this.   For the last 9 years it has looked like that.  It's so hard to believe that she was only 2, still in a crib a night, my belly was swollen with a sweet baby boy, she had these bright blond baby curls, and with this being our first home, I allowed her to pick out her colors when we painted her room. She loved the colors 'pewrple' and 'yea-wow'.  So we went with it.  My very good

Meal Plan Monday: 2/17/2014

Hey there everyone!   Our family was blessed with a 3-day weekend.  We NAILED IT! in the relaxation department, but yet, very productive at the same time.  I hope all of you were able to enjoy an extra day and relax too.   I almost missed getting this post up since I was thrown off my game for my schedule.  I am hoping that I will get my computer back up and running this week , so I can update you on some progress that I've been making in the tween's bedroom.  It's coming together quite nicely; plus I have another project I've snuck into the mix while working on Baby Girl's room. Last week, when The Mister and I did our grocery shopping, I was blown away by our total bill.   It was way over my weekly budget, and to be honest, I hadn't remembered my manufacture coupons, luckily I did remember my $10 off $50 spent.  At any rate, when I look back at what we had bought, we had snagged some really good deals; some buy one get one free, along with some meats that

One...Two...Three...Four, Momma Loves Four

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Happy Valentine's Day everyone!   It seemed only right to express my love to my top four loves.   The Mister is in a ball park all of his own.  :)  He stole my heart long ago, and then it started with one. Then grew to two. Before we knew it there were three. Surprise, and boy I do mean SURPRISE there is four!!!  4!  Four beautiful babies. Four little humans that my hubby and I were  ARE getting the pleasure to raise, to hold, love and nourish, to mold into amazing human beings. We  have quite the baby fever going around in our circle right now. My cousin is expecting their first baby any moment now, my sister is expecting her first baby this spring, our good friends & neighbor's are expecting their first baby in less than a month....all little girl's too! Then, we just found out my husband's cousin is expecting their 3rd baby in the summer (I am predicting a 3rd boy to their brood, although a girl would be great for both of them, but I sti

System Issues...Memory Issues

So, I had all these great things planned to show you this week.   Our snow day(s) from this last weekend. The progress on Baby Girl's room and her new gradient wall colors. Some garden art I made for some loved ones at Christmas, with a tutorial on my Thrify Thursday. A new Fabulous Food Friday. But, I've changed my password on my computer (using a different computer right now, obviously) and well, ALL my photos.  All, my everything, is ON the other computer. So, I apologize, until I figure out how to unlock and remember my password, I'm on hold. However, come by tomorrow and see about my Valentine's Love.   Happy Valentine's Day all!

Meal Plan Monday: 2/10/14

Hey, hey!!  Happy Monday to you all!  Did you have a great weekend?  I know that a lot of us were snowed in and loving it.  Some of you were getting a little stir crazy, but I was soaking up the time with my family and getting some chores finished.    We had a winter storm move in Thursday afternoon and leave us with about 8 inches of snow in some areas, and up to 18 inches of snow in other areas. Then this same lovely storm brought us some freezing rain overnight, which was not so much fun, or safe, for any driving the next day.   It didn't bother me the least bit though, I was getting some much needed projects tackled around the house. We were able to get out yesterday and do our weekly grocery shopping, which I was nervous about.  My best friend was telling me how picked over the local grocery store was and how the store didn't even have any milk, so I was expecting to only be able to get a few things, and was pleasantly surprised when I was able to do our full weeks wort

Meal Plan Monday: Week 5 - 2/3/14

Happy Monday!  Happy February!  Can you believe that?  It’s already February!  January just passed me by. Well, I hope all of you have a fabulous weekend.  We were very productive in getting some paint on the walls and some other fun projects done around the house.  Which, hopefully, I’ll be able to post about those sometime this week. I'm back at it and planning our weekly meal plans.  It honestly, helps keep my family on track.   In the two months that I didn’t do the meal planning, it felt like I was running to the grocery store every single night on my way home from work.   Having a menu/meal plan really helps me get the week in order as well and to know which nights are our busiest and what needs to be in the crock-pot.  With The Mister and I being on a little bit of a specialized meal plan, this menu may be heavy on the chicken for some you, but you can always alternate either fish or a red meat into it for your own family.  Like with our chicken tacos, you could hav