To Do To Do To Do

I have a list of things I want to get done that is starting to feel like its a mile long.

With the end of the year coming up on us super fast I want to be able to start 2012 with a clear mind. I have plans for some changes that I want to make within myself and I am going to need as much serenity as possible to be successful.

So here are some of the things I need to get done, I thought I would share with you what my next few weeks are looking like.

Get the laundry/storage room organized...again. I am always having to do this because there is always some reason for me to get into the bins that I have in there with our decorations, party supplies, and other various things. And most recently it was the Christmas stuff...

Go through Bella's clothes and shoes....again. Obviously she is always growing and I dont like the have clothes/shoes that are too small for her in her closet. It makes it hard for other people (Ryan) to get her dressed if they dont have the knowledge in their head of what is too small or whatever the case may be.

Organize Bella's toys and arrange her room to make it big girl bed ready! We decided to skip the toddler bed step when it comes to changing her from crib to bed. Either way, because we have a convertible crib, its going to be the same distance off the ground and she would enjoy having a bed like Max's so we are just going straight to a twin size bed after her second (eek!) birthday later this month.

Organize Max's toys...again. Christmas brings tons of new toys into the kids' rooms, so I have to make room, in his room especially, for the new things. See why I am going to make sure I have an entire play room for the kids when we buy a house?!

Organize my clothes and Ryan's by color. I love to see an organized closet...and actually let me amend this. Organize all of our clothes by color. I crave the calmness that comes from something that is organized. Who wouldn't love to open their closet and see a system? Sighhhh, I may have to move this to the top of my list!

There is a whole bunch of other things that I want done but right now I can't remember them all. But I'm sure as soon as I finish one thing on my list I'll be able to add two more things to it! There are some things that have to be done pretty soon because they are for Christmas and Bella's birthday party. But those things will get done no matter what, I can say that for sure.

Do you have any things you plan on getting done before the new year starts?
Talk to you soon,
J

I Pinned it, Then I Did it!

This year is the first year that I've had an amazing Christmas tree. I bought it last year after Christmas for an excellent price. Needless to say, I was so excited to finally put it up along with all of the ornaments I have collected over the last few years. Well rewind a few weeks before I put the tree up, I was browsing pinterest.com...again, and I came across this DIY-no sew-tree skirt...

from this blog and I new I needed to have one for myself.

Problem is, this calls for a lot of work with a hot glue gun...and I don't typically use hot glue guns on things I intend to keep until they fall apart...and in this case, I wouldn't expect the tree skirt put together with hot glue to last very long.

SO I made things a little more difficult on myself (shame on me) and i decided to make it with my sewing machine. It just seemed more efficient in this case.

I was going to write out how to do everything I did so I could share it with everyone, but it was A LOT of work...like at least 8 hours worth...I split it up over two days off and on but I'll probably never do it again haha!

Doing it with a glue gun would have been way faster and much less frustrating and complicated...but I took the long road.

The results...were WORTH it! It came out better than expected and I think it'll hold up for the next 10 years at least. I hemmed every single ruffle strip individually before pinning and sewing them onto the canvas to ensure they wouldn't fray for a long long time. And lastly I sewed ribbon along the inside smallest circle to give it that polished (;)) look and sewed a few strips of ribbon along the ends to tie it all together.

So here is MY version of the DIY tree skirt!

And here is our beautiful Christmas tree!!

Talk to you soon,
J

Thankful Thursdays - 36

Thanksgiving Edition!

What a wonderful day!
A day that most of America is counting their blessings and sharing with everyone what they're thankful for!
I want to share with you the things that I am thankful for every day of the year and this week.

327. I'm thankful for the health of my children. In a world where bad things happen every day, my children have thus far been unaffected. I thank God every single night after we are all in bed for the life he has given my children. I thank him for every healthy breath.

328. I'm thankful for the success my marriage. Evey day I tell God how thankful I am that I get to spend the rest of my life with my best friend. With every smile, kiss, hug, and laugh I am grateful to have such a loving man at my side to live my days and nights with.

329. I'm thankful for all of my family. Even though the majority of my family lives 12+ hours away from me in a bunch of different directions, they are in my heart all the time. I can't wait for the day when all of my family is together in one place.

330. I'm thankful for tradition. I never thought I would have my own traditions, but I do. There are things that I have done every year for many years that I love to do. And every year that I do them, I get to put a new memory away that will live with me for as long as my memory works. I look forward to making new traditions.

331. The thing that I am most thankful for this year though, is the love that the Lord has shown me. He has opened my eyes.

What are you thankful for this week?
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!
Enjoy good food, good friends & family, and lots of laughter!

Talk to you soon,
J

Thankful Thursdays - 35

"She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come."
--Proverbs 31:25

322. I am thankful that I do not fear the future. There is nothing in my life that can scare me about the future. I am so glad that I can live my life KNOWING that I am living the life God has asked me to, which leads me to KNOWING that because I am living in his light, I will be rewarded with happiness.

323. I am thankful for my husband. I am constantly reminded how amazing he is. Most of all though I am thankful for why he loves me. He loves me not to spite people, or to prove anything to anyone. He loves me because he has seen in my heart, and he knows I am kind, and loving, and I let him be...HIM.

324. I am thankful for the changes my kids have been making. Their growth is always astounding and leaves me constantly speechless. I wouldn't ask them to stop for all the money in the world. They are the proof of what love can make.

325. I am thankful for the strength that God has given my friend. Even through the hardest thing she has ever had to deal with, she is looking towards the future, instead of living in the past. With God she will prevail, and will find the life she was meant to live.

326. I am thankful for the opportunities that arise at just the right moment. God will ALWAYS provide.

What are you thankful for this week?

Talk to you soon.
J

Tasty Tasty

I cook nearly everyday, and I dont save the awesome stuff for just Tuesdays, so I decided to just call these posts "Tasty Tasty". Why not?

Anyways, I have been perusing pinterest.com every single day...I'm obsessed. There are so many awesome ideas on there, it can keep my attention for hours.

I came across some awesome looking potatoes and thought I'd give it a try tonight since I had all the ingredients and they would go great with the pork roast that I was making.

The Ingredients:

4 potatoes (or however many)
Olive Oil (I use Extra Virgin)
Butter
Salt
Pepper
Minced Garlic (totally optional)


The Instructions:

This goes without saying but, clean your potatoes thoroughly. Then dry them and lay each one on its flattest side. Next, take your time and make slices all along the potato. Go as far down as you can manage without cutting all the way through, and try to keep each slice like 3 to 4mm apart.

Note: This is just the way I flavored them, you can probably do whatever you want to these according to your tastes.

Next put bits of butter into each slice of the potato (or every other piece), I decided to put the garlic on only one potato just in case it didn't taste too good and I just put a tiny bit into every third slice. Next drizzle the olive oil over each potato, shake salt and pepper over them after that.

Stick the potatoes on an aluminum foil covered cookie sheet and put them in the oven to cook at 425 for about an hour, or until they look crispy and brown.

The Final Product and Verdict:

I originally put them in the over for only 45 minutes as directed on the website I found but I think an hour would have been better. The insides weren't as tender to me as I would have liked them.

The Husband said: "Babe, you should really cook potatoes like this every single day."
Max said: "Mom, I dont really like the potatoes." (hes not a fan of any potato)
Bella said: "Mine? Yummy!"

Overall they were a hit and I will make them again. I should have taken pictures of the pork roast because THAT got rave reviews from all three of my test subjects!

Try it and let me know how it goes!
Talk  to you soon,
J

Tasty Tuesday

Chicken & Dumplings Edition

I love my Crock Pot. Seriously...I love it, if I wasn't so timid when it came to trying new recipes I would cook in it every day.


So when a friend of mine sent me a super easy recipe for chicken & dumplings I just had to try it.

The Ingredients:

4 halves of boneless skinless chicken breast so, two chicken breasts cut in half. (I cubed mine to make it into bite size pieces.)
2 cans of condensed cream of chicken soup
2 10 ounce cans of refrigerated biscuit dough (I could only fine 7 ounce cans so I just used three of those and didn't use one biscuit.)
2 tablespoons butter
1 onion finely chopped

Note: I added some fresh cracked black pepper like halfway through cooking.

The Directions:

1.Put all ingredients in the crock pot EXCEPT the biscuits. Add water to just covering all the ingredients.Turn the cooker on to high and cook for 5 1/2 hours.

Note: If it seems as if its too watery, have patience, the biscuits will make it thicker really fast!

2. Add the biscuit dough in pieces (I tore each biscuit into four pieces and rolled them into balls) and cook for another half an hour until the center of the biscuits are no longer raw in the center.

Note: Stir the dumplings about halfway into the final half hour and before serving.

The Final Product:

I know today is Wednesday but I didn't have time to write this post yesterday.

This meal was a major hit! The husband isn't a fan of dumplings but he trusted me when I said these are different. They aren't as doughy as real dumplings since they're made from biscuits. Even my kids gobbled it up, and they're the hardest to please!

I think this is an excellent recipe for colder weather and its super filling so a little goes a long way!

Talk to you soon,
J

Slacker...

I sucked at Halloween this year.

I have already confessed to being a major planner...I plan nearly everything that way I'm not being stunned by surprises every day. For some reason though this month was kinda outta whack for me. I had a plan in mind for our family Halloween costumes and was fully intent on making everything because I am totally capable...but then the time flew by. So Max ended up as Darth Vadar cause he loves Star Wars and really wanted a pretty legit light saber and Bella ended up as our Baby Bumble Bee...as in the song (hahaha). Now of course they looked as cute as ever but I was still slightly bummed that we didn't end up in coordinating costumes. (Last year we were all pirates and Baby Bella was our parrot) I already told myself though that we will end up dressed next year like I wanted us this year. Luckily I have a husband that is happy to make me happy and knows how special some things are to me, and Halloween is definitely one of those things.

I did learn a lesson though. Things will not always go the way you want them to go. I am constantly struggling (but always learning) with letting go of all the control. I don't know how I got this way but I think it is just one of the things that happened to me when I started having kids. Luckily I don't throw fits or get angry when things go different than what I had planned...I just take a few breaths and go with the flow. 

I'm very happy though that we were able to do every thing I wanted to do aside from the costumes. October is filled with so many fun things that I love to enjoy with me children and my husband. We went to school functions, we found an awesome Pumpkin Patch, we picked pumpkins, we baked Halloween cakes and cookies, we made fun Halloween magnets and did a few other crafts, and we went Trick or Treating at our local ghost town, my moms work and around a few of our friends streets and our own.

Even when things don't seem to turn out perfectly, I always look back and see how really, things were perfect.

Enjoy a few pictures!

Talk to you soon,
J