Dreamy

Overall, I think the weekend was pretty dreamy. B had to work all weekend which was a bummer, but we had wonderful evenings together. We laughed, we joked, we waged tickle wars, and we even managed to get out to eat as a family (I'm a tight wad and hardly ever let this happen).

While B was away, LB and I had a mildly productive weekend. I managed to get a few things knocked off of the school to do list. LB cleaned her room really well all by herself! We made the bracelets featured in this tutorial (we used an old jersey bed sheet). We started both the compost and poop compost piles. Our indoor seeds have been started and we hosted a puppy play date.

It was lovely. Not everything got accomplished, but I allowed myself to focus on quality rather than quantity, in everything I did this weekend. Though I'll probably be regretting that decision later this month when everything starts sneaking up on me. Can't win can we?

I leave you with this:

 ...she's the greatest!

Dreamy/Practical

My girl SaraBeth over at Salt and Chocolate (... okay, we're not tight but we sip tea together over weekly blog readings!) does this Dreamy/Practical list for her weekends. I thought it would be neat, so I'm stealing it.

Dreamy:
take the dog to the beach/on a hike
sip tea, while lazily perusing my mega stack of unread magazines
not look at the computer until Monday
cook a fantastic Sunday breakfast
create something
clean office (including installing shelves)
meal plan for the week
photo shoot with Riley and Ginger

Practical:
knock out at least three post-its on the school work wall of shame
go to church
plant indoor veggie seeds
fill last bed with dirt
errands
bathe dog, including clean ears (this one scares me!)
puppy patrol (aka clean up poop)

What is your weekend looking like?

Whoa!

Its been so long since I've been up here that I completely forgot what my blog actually looked like! And it looks like someone on a cotton candy binge got sick all over the page. What was I thinking? Hopefully I will change that sometime this week.
Life has been crazy busy, and blogging hasn't been a priority. Such is the ebb and flow I guess. But here's a quick glimpse of what we've been up to:

- planning the year's green thumb efforts (we're using the square foot garden method this year)

- cleaning up puppy poop

- creating a compost for said poop

- inching closer towards the academic finish line

- breaking up fights between said puppy and pissed off jealous cat

- desperately hunting for the "easy button" that will give me an extra hour in the day

- planning a super shin-dig for a little lady who is becoming too grown for me

- effectively putting off taking care of the disaster zone (aka my office)

- avoiding this space (I'll get better I promise!)

And the puppy is a calling. 

Cheers.

Amber

Three

As I've said, this week sucked major donkey        (you fill in the blank). We were sick ALL week, only attempting to go to school on Wednesday and that turned out to be a bad decision on my part. So, the house became a cluttered, germ infested, hot mess! And we basically spent the week memorizing the PBS cartoon schedule and fine tuning our soup connoisseur skills. And you guessed it, I still burned nearly all of the grilled cheese!

That being said, I was able to mark a couple of things off of last week's list:

- house was disinfected multiple times (thanks honey!)

- not only did I finish the two planned hats, I was able to finish two more (one complete with a pompom top!)

- I looked into making the Great Wolf reservations but the rates for the weekend we wanted jumped $250 from when I first started planning a couple of weeks ago!!!!

- I spent an hour messing with the new office diggs, waiting on hubby to install the shelfs
- nothing has been purchased yet, but valentine's prizes are planned

I think that is everything! Not to bad considering we were down for the count most of the week!

What to work on this week?
- place a photo order
- get feb. birthday prizes bought and wrapped
- schedule tax appointment
- look into alternative trip
- create bulletin board for office

On to a happier, healthier week 3...

***discovered a super cool app on my phone, so hopefully pictures will start rolling again soon***

It's back...

...with a vengeance. Our ick that is. We'll be out for the count this weekend, laying low, playing puzzles and contemplating buying stock in Kleenex. Hope you and yours have a great one. We envy you!

Jolt!

This week has been a doozy. And we are fighting feverishly to win the war against the winter blahs - complete with karate kicks aimed at the germs inside of our bodies. It has been a week of ice pops, open windows, Goodbye ick flowers, and brightly painted toes! I also made a beautiful bean salad that's full of bright flavor to jolt my taste buds into my fantasy! I learned about the method for this salad from my Nannie and I love it! (alter however you please):

1 can black beans, rinsed

1 can black eyed peas, rinsed

1 can white beans, rinsed

1 can diced tomatoes with chilis

1 can shoepeg corn

Combine and enjoy!

The Clash

Yea, so I know its pretty obvious but I'm changing things up a bit around here. Doing a little housekeeping as they say in bloggieville. So I apologize but until I have the time to create a new header and figure out how to adjust some text colors you'll have to deal with the visual CLASH!

Goals Revisited

OK so its not Sunday and its not week 2 but I'm going with it.

Here's a recap of how I did that week:

- no painting of frames was done, we are having a hard time deciding whether we want to paint the frames black and use colored photos OR paint them a creamy white and use black and white photos. uggh.
- needles were never found BUT I did borrow some from my grandma, and I'm proud to say that my first knitted project EVER is about 97% complete!
- Grad. App AND FAFSA were both submitted!

So, all in all, keeping in mind that it took over two weeks to check things off, I think I did OK...

On to week 2.

Goals:

- finish hat and start another
- lysol my house!!!
- set up new office stuff (we went to ikea! we were virgins and it was crazy!)
- get valentines prizes together
- make reservations at this place

Wish me luck!

The Bee's Knees

Working on a resolution that didn't make the public list, I found myself in need of a recipe that wasn't high in fat and calories but would still satisfy my need for bread. I found this. And now make them every Sunday!

Low-Cal Banana Muffins

3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup bran (I grind in the food processor)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 baking soda
1 cup mashed bananas
1/4 cup splenda or honey
1/4 cup applesauce
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray muffin tin.
Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
In another bowl beat banana, sugar, egg, and vanilla. Stir in applesauce.
Gradually stir in flour mixture. Do not overmix.
Divide batter between muffin cups. Will make 12 muffins unless you've also got a 5 year old who thinks the batter is just "the bee's knees".
Bake for 15-20 minutes. I use the toothpick trick.

The website that I adapted this from breaks down the nutritional information and states that there are only  76.7 calories in each muffin. But their recipe uses sugar not splenda. Sooooo, for my purposes I round down and claim that MY muffins only have 50 calories!!!

That's what I'm talking about!

This recipe has been adapted form the Low-Cal Banana Muffins recipe that can be found on SparkRecipes.com.

I can't log on, and I don't know why!

These other brothers can't deny,

But when a girl can't log

Into her itty, bitty blog,

She gets...TICKED!!!!


Okay, so it was a weird week. One where I was busy as crap, but can't think of any one particular thing that I accomplished! No idea where the time went. (Kind of like when I'm shopping, wallet is empty at the end of the day, and who knows what I've bought! That never happens to you?  Oh.)

Any who, now back to my song. I have this issue. ODU uses gmail as their server and so anytime that I need to send a school related email it logs me into my school gmail account and DOES NOT let me log into my blogger account; only giving me the option to create a new blog. It usually takes about a week to get back in!

So now you know at least one more thing that I WAS NOT dawdling away my time with. Any ideas of how to bypass this issue?

Many blog drafts are brewing and the Sunday weekly docket will be posted later today.

Press Play

We like movies around here. Netflix, Redbox and Fios are our suppliers. We do not buy movies, as we rarely ever watch them more than once- unless of course we are talking Disney movies, because that damn vault has crazy power over my movie buying practices!

As much as we enjoy taking in at home cinema, we are rarely ever affected (...effected? never got those straight!) by the movies we are watching. In fact, the only movie I think I've ever seen and had to buy, with the intent of watching repeatedly with fervor was The Family Stone. I know, I know, you've probably never even heard it, but lemme defend myself by saying that there are a lot of homey qualities that I connect with in this movie, and I cry every time!

Well, I am happy to say that this weekend we found another movie that I can't wait to buy and watch again, again, again (alone in the dark after everyone is in bed because they no longer see the appeal...). Have you seen Ramona and Beezus? This movie was so real life in a magical way. At different points throughout the movie you could find my LB (5), her friend (10) and her blubbering mom (25) all shedding tears of ... (it varied depending on the scene!) It was great. I'm buying it this week.

What movies do you have to rave about?


***Camera update- it will be covered under warranty! Say what, no crazy costing repairs, not for me my friend! Cannot wait to be reunited ****

Weekly Goals

I want to start something new here. From now on my sunday posts are going to revolve around setting goals for myself for the week. These goals aren't going to include the mundane everyday tasks such as laundry and dishes (unless of course I need a kick in the butt to actually get it put away!), but more along the lines of house and self-improvement/crafty type stuff. The hope is that by putting it out there I will I will actually get it done!

The beginning of each sunday post will be a recap of how I did for the week followed by declaring the next week's hurdles. I encourage you to follow along and set some goals for yourself, your dusty piles of pictures will thank me!

Week 1
- spray paint all collected frames for hallway gallery (that sounds all official and stuff!)
- gather supplies (i.e. dig around for knitting needles) for this project

See, nothing too intense, I just want to get going on all of those nagging things I keep putting off for another day!

Update: A more serious goal: I must submit my grad. app!!!!!

Friday's Spotlight

Have you checked out Molly yet? If not, why not head over there today. I go at least every friday because she posts FREEBIE FRIDAYS! Here is the link. Checking this out at least on Fridays has been a great way for me to fill my mailbox with free stuff; plus there are always a few great ideas throughout the week.

BTW I am endorsing this website only because it has been a great resource for me. I have not been paid in any way.

he hee

It makes me giggle knowing that the meal I consistently fail at is grilled cheese!

case in point...

Crossroads

image credits

    I love how the parenting gig rides just like a roller coaster. Just when you think you've survived the last drop, you find yourself teetering over the edge of a bigger one. And I've only got one kid, geesh! I often find myself struggling and second-guessing the decisions I make as a mother (duh, isn't that part of the job description?).

     Right now the big issue is whether to push Riley in school or hang back and let her develop into her own kind of student. She has always been advanced for her age, but socially she has been a bit of a follower because she wasn't often around other kids her age. So, now that she is in kindergarten I have noticed a (very slight) decline in her interest in academics and a (slightly stronger) interest in talking and playing with her peers. I KNOW this is just kindergarten but I also know that academic habits are established early. 

     Of course I want her to have strong friendships AND strong academic skills I just have to figure out how to balance my approach so that I'm not pushing her too hard towards one or against the other.

    I also don't want her to grow up feeling like I will only accept perfection. I grew up feeling like those were my parents expectations for me (I still feel that way), and although I now know that they just wanted me to be my best, the stress of having that on my shoulders was/is exhausting (and I'm grown!). It will be hard to cheer for Riley when she brings home B's on her future report cards when I get myself into a week-long grouch fest if I even bring home one on a paper. Hopefully those grouch fests will be enough to motivate me to be different for her sake.

Ruh roh!

It is with great sadness that I must report that my already camera shy posts will be even more so in the next few weeks... my camera took a dive yesterday at the aquarium and it will take a couple of weeks to get it fixed  ; (

I'm sorry, but I had to do it...

Had to brag that is! Over the past year or so I have found the internet and this blogging thing to be a tremendous source of inspiration and a revolving list of extremely valuable resources. That being said I want to share with you the results from my shopping trip today for groceries:

And here's how it broke down:

Rite Aid
4 (count them again, four!) boxes of Special K cereal for $0.24!!!!!

Dollar Tree Market
Three loaves of Nature Grain Honey Wheat Bread
Applesauce
Tangelos
2 Green Peppers
1 pack of Cobblestone Mill Kaiser Rolls 
Total = $9.25

BJ's
Milk
OJ

Today's Shopping Total = $16.35!!!!!!!


Obviously the biggest deal was on the cereal and really they were the only items I had coupons for. The bread selection was great at the Dollar Tree Market today and the produce prices were too! So, all in all I'm feeling pretty good right now because there is nothing I like better than scoring on a good deal! Have you found any deals lately?

LEGOS!

My girl is developing a new love...and so is her mom!

The trailer hitch for the boat is so cool!

And I love, LOVE her duck!

Good Goes!

I've committed to a new project. Learn more about it here!

Won't you join me?

Whipping Something Up!

LB's class had their annual Months of the Year Parade last week. Each student (aka their parents) were to create a costume that represented their month, LB was assigned February as her month and I had just the thing! To represent the month I took this:

And these:

And paired them up with her Santa hat and dress from Christmas, along with some pink tights, a heart shaped wand and Valentine-y embellished shoes.

All together those elements created the cutest Valentine Princess costume I had ever seen.

Of course being the novice blogger that I am I do not have pictures of the completed costume, but rather this lonely picture of the only thing that survived the day:

Cute, no?

Game on...

This year for Christmas we wanted to give gifts that required more involvement and togetherness than just watching (or not) the recipient open a package. So with that in mind, we gave my younger cousins board games that came with an invitation for a Game themed sleepover. What were we thinking! No really it was a lot of fun, but things didn't go quite as I had planned.

The gaming part never really got off of the ground:

Instead they were more interested in this:

 And this:

I think we're doing it again next month, which was just what I had in mind!

Buried Treasure!

My LB (Lovebug) was feeling a bit under the weather today and she was craving all of Mommy's attention. When I had finally run out of entertainment ideas she asked for a tea party. Aha! This reminded me of the tea set that I had saved from my childhood that my Grandma made for me! So together my daughter and I dug out what appeared to be an ordinary box, but would indeed prove to be a treasure chest of sorts:

*see that golden goodness peaking out*

So we began to dig and with each layer of tissue paper we removed: another treasure was found. I don't think LB fully shared my enthusiasm until the box was empty and in the corner she found this: 

"Mommy, this really is a treasure box!", she exclaimed : )

Once we unwrapped and washed all of the pieces I was amazed that there were actually two COMPLETE sets. The yellow is mine and the pink is my sisters. My set was made for me in:

1990!

After I finishing reminiscing we finally had our party, and we managed to get the boys in on it too!

Crumpets anyone? 

Pantry Remix!

This is the last week of break for me before classes crank back up again. As such, I had set a couple of goals for my self and our house, feeling confident that I could get them done because the kids (Riley and the child I take care of) are back in school so I have the days to myself. One of those goals was to reorganize my pantry so that it functions better for our family.

Here is the shot of the chaos before:

Plus this:

This:

And this:

* Don't judge my goofy amount of Doritos, we scored almost a year's worth of free coupons*

So, after completely emptying out the pantry, wiping down the shelves and categorizing all of the food items, I began to think about how I wanted everything to look when I stuffed it all back in there. It was difficult to decide what to put where but I knew that I wanted to focus more on the content of the boxes rather than having the space be cluttered by the logos of the boxes. So... I searched my reusables stash and collected all types of jars and bins to better organize things. A neatly shaped orange juice container became the new home for our Goldfish crackers. Dog treat containers now store noodles and jelly jars now contain rice and beans. I also moved most of our seldom used kitchen appliances into our laundry room storage. 

And now the moment you've been waiting for:

Top Shelf: My ridiculous amount of Doritos.

Second Shelf: Pastas, Tomato Products, Canned Vegetables

Third Shelf: Lunch Stuff (crackers, granola bars, soups, etc)

Fourth Shelf: Breakfast stuff and snacks

Floor: 3 bin rack (potatoes, bread), Kitchenaid, overstock items

I have no idea if this is going to work, but it is definitely better than it was before.

New Year's FAIL

I have always admired terrariums. I love how they have this simplistic appeal that eludes complexity. And seeing how my DNA was coded for a black thumb I felt that building one of my own would be pretty simple. I mean, once you get past the construction aspect, you're left with a practically self-sufficient plant ecosystem. So without further a-diue, let's see how I did, shall we...

 Step 1. Acquire necessary materials.

Step 2. Take a better look at said materials and realize that the plants I have chosen (although lovely) are in fact CACTI! Ugh, I really chose the only plants that would suffer a long agonizing death in my perfectly assembled environment. REALLY!?!

Step 3. Accept failure and improvise. These plants (I think they are more popularly known as 'hens and chickens') now live happily with the pitiful existence of my ironically labeled "Chicken Liver" plant.

Oh well, you win some and you lose some. Happy Gardening Y'all!

The List

Alright, I'm bringing it. Here are my promises to myself about how I'm going to live this year.

1. Live.
     ~ Although I don't believe in all of the 2012 mumbo jumbo I don't want to take any chances so I want      
        to think less and do more.
2. Do less and be more. 
     ~ It seems counterintuitive to the before mentioned goal but this one has more to do with trying not to
        expect so much of myself and trying to allow myself to be more in the moment rather than trying to
        plan what the next five moments are going to be. Basically, this has a lot to do with not
        overbooking my family's time so we can enjoy more of each other.
3. Use what we have on hand.
      ~ I want to keep thinking about alternative uses for things so that I don't have to run out to the store
         for every little item = more shopping from my home. And maybe even put aside the money I
         would be spending in a little vacation fund?
4. Seasonal Daycations
       ~ This is a recycle from last year and we really enjoyed it!
5. Create a Nighttime Routine
       ~ Just as infants require routines, I think my life could benefit greatly from them. I want to start
          preparing more for our day the night before so our mornings are more enjoyable and hopefully this
          practice will then spill over into other aspects of my life.
6. Establish Sunday as a Day of Rest
       ~ I know this will take a while to work, but I think that if we try hard to intentionally make it happen
         we may be pleasantly surprised.
7. Keep Up With This Space
       ~ Although this is just the beginning I think this blog has already helped me to keep my head clear
          and I want to keep that going.
8. Photos
       ~ I have only had our new camera for two weeks and I have already uploaded nearly 200 usable
          pictures. I want to keep this trend going and maybe sit down once a month and place a print order.
          At the end of the year I would like to make a album.
9. Mailbox Mondays
       ~ Over the past year a lot of my family members have made big moves to different parts of the
          country. I want to stay in touch with them and so my goal is to send at least one letter or package
          via snail mail each monday. I know that when we lived away checking the mailbox was my
          favorite part of the day and I hope I can brighten theirs also!

Ok, that's it. Not too much right?!?!!!!!  Uh, but its out there and I think that will mentally make me feel more accountable. Happy New Year Y'all. I'm off to make a big ol' pot of black eyed peas to get this year started off right!