Happenings in this House

One of the things I love about other blogs I follow are the pictures; real life, every day pictures.  That is something I haven't done a whole lot of more because I focus on other topics than my family on this blog.  I saw an idea on one blog about doing "A Year in the Life . .. " and she posted one picture from each day (or almost every day) from the past week.  It's a great concept.  So, my warped view of this is just doing one post a week (or almost every week) with some of the happenings in this house.  I know that many people use their blog as their scrapbook but I scrapbook so I don't need the blog to do that!  But I do think that this is a great memory to keep ;-)  Who knows, one of these years I might get a "Blog Book" of all of my articles from the past year! 

So enjoy - Happenings from this House!

On January 1st, we just enjoyed the day at home.  Josh loves playing with his new train set and Nate enjoyed the bean bags :-)  We also went outside and took down the lights before winter really hit!

My three boys - Darryl, Josh and Nate!

Nate enjoys posing - but this look?  I don't even recognize this little guy!  He looks so much like Josh did at this age but, honestly, we never see this.  Love how the camera catches these looks!

Josh LOVES to hang in the kitchen.  You can't really see it  but there are sprinkles all over the floor.  He's attempting to pick them up, one at a time, and throw them away before China eats them LOL



Yep, he is a state fan (or at least his mom is!) and notice the hair?  People pay alot of money for hair like that!



We had the finally Christmas party on Jan 8th (post poned due to illness).  The boys were awesome!  They enjoyed getting gifts and they loved playing with their older cousins!

Josh's new favorite past time is watching cartoons while laying on our bed.  He no longer takes naps (I know . . ) so after lunch he will usually ask to get up on the bed and just chill out.  Some days, he falls asleep.  I guess he needed some extra shut eye!





Yep, he LOVES his trains.  Notice the neat train track, the puzzle all put together, and all of the extra trains lined up neatly?  That describes this little guy to a tee!

Today, January 15th, we finally were able to take the boys outside in the snow.  It has either been way too cold or muddy with no snow.  After several small snows this past week we have about 6-8 inches so it was perfect.  We bundled everyone up (which takes a good 20 minutes!) and headed outside to have some fun.

Josh enjoying the snow and figuring out how to walk with all of that stuff on!

Nate was like a bulldozer through the snow.  He chose not to walk and just crawled through every drift.  He kept his mittens on and only cried when his face hit the snow first!

Having some fun on the sleds .

My Three Boys in the snow :-)  (Notice Josh's face - he HATE's mittens.  H.A.T.E.S them and was trying to get them off! . . Darryl's face? He's just cold LOL)



Hope you enjoyed this little walk through our week :-)

Mommy Time - Winter Unit

Welcome back to Mommy Time!  If you haven't checked out the Winter Units make sure and check out this Post - awesome ideas!

One of neat ideas I've seen in blogland for awhile is something called a sensory bin.  I decided to create one for this unit and this is what it looks like!

It is filled with all kinds of things for winter - cotton balls, a big letter W and S (for winter and snow), some diamond shaped beads (for ice), snowman playing cards, and I took a garland that had sparkly fuzzy white balls on it and cut it up - keeping both the fuzzy balls and the metal beading that connected it.  You can get as creative as you want and than, let the fun begin!

Testing it out for the first time.

Starting to pull stuff out.

Unloading the box.

He loved the "crystals"

Notice it is all on the floor?  Don't worry, when he was done, he picked almost all of it up on his own.

I really didn't see what the hype was about the Sensory Bin until I tried it today.  Josh loved all the textures and items in the tub.  I saw him putting just the cotton balls back in, than he would lay the metal beading along the side of the tub in rows and when we finished cleaning up, he liked to grab the things that looked alike at one time.  This bin only comes out when Nate is napping because, right now, he would eat some of those items.  I look forward to when they can both play with the bins in a few more months.  It will be a great treat for them to be able to play with each week.  I hope to be able to pull it out 2-3 times a week and later be able to use it for sorting games and activities.  Right now, I'm just letting him play with the things in his own creative way!

As far as storage - I dont' have a ton of space to store this stuff so I think I'm going to have one tub and than, store the "stuff" in a bag instead of having 12 boxes or more stored somewhere. The bags I can squish down into one box. 

Have fun! And let me know if you try out a sensory bin - I'd love to see pictures.  (And yes, I'm already picking up stuff for my February box - not sure yet what the "main" stuffer will be - to replace the cotton balls - I think a trip to Hobby Lobby is in order!!!!)

Chicken Scaloppini

I made this for dinner tonight and we really loved it alot.  It is really easy and so tasty. 

Chicken Scaloppini
(6 servings)

6 thinly sliced chicken breasts
2 Tbsp butter
2Tbsp oil
2 cups flour plus 2tsp
2 cups chicken broth
2 Tbsp lemon juice (from 1 lemon)
1Tbsp basil
1Tbsp parsley

Chicken:
Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. In a dish add 2 cups of flour- coat each chicken breast with flour. Melt butter and oil in a large pan on med-high heat. Add chicken and cook on each side until lightly browned and cooked through. Take chicken out of pan and set aside on dish.
Sauce:
Leave the remains in the pan you cooked your chicken in. Add 2 tsp of flour to make a paste, then add 2 cups of chicken broth. Let simmer for 5 mins or until it begins to thicken. Add lemon juice, basil and parsley.

Pour sauce over chicken and enjoy.  Serve with rice, noodles, or risotto.

This recipe came from Comfy in the Kitchen

My Notes:
* I really only have one note.  Due to my first batch of rice not cooking (not sure what happened!) my sauce had to sit for 20 minutes while I cooked a second batch of rice.  When I had first tasted the sauce I thought it was very "lemony" but letting it sit for that time allowed the flavors to blend and it was soooo good!  So, make the sauce and let it sit for a few before serving. 

Getting Organized Challenged.

Today is Day 11 over at A bowl Full of Lemons 21 day organizational challenge.  You can check out this post to see my other 10 days of organization.

So, Day 11 on A Bowl Full of Lemons is the Freezer, but honestly, my Freezer is clean.  For one, I don't have alot of food and secondly, I clean it out every week before shopping so I know what I have :-)  So for me, Day 11 was going back to the dresser drawer.  So check out the before and after:

The before - Darryl's shorts and t-shirts.  Always a jumbled mess!

Now it houses his white t-shirts, jeans and shorts.  So much neater!

The old jean and t-shirt drawer.

Which now houses his t-shirts all sorted by color!

Sadly this is my one and only drawer.  Everything is crammed in here.

Now, all my shirts are organized, shorts are folded and jeans fit in nicely.

And the PJ drawer.

All nice and neat!

I"ll be linking up over at:

Brunswick Stew

Last week I made a Taco Soup that was really good so that has me on a little bit of a Soup/Stew Kick.  I went searching for something to make this week and came across this recipe for Brunswick Stew - I had never heard of it or tasted it but it sound good PLUS it is a slow cooker recipe!  (I do not have a recipe for the Taco Soup because it was from a packet that I bought at a Craft Show this summer - it was very yummy!)

Amelia's Slow Cooker Brunswick Stew

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 pound country style pork ribs
1 onion, chopped
1 roasted chicken, deboned and shredded
1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes
3/4 cup ketchup
1/2 (10 fluid ounce) bottle steak sauce
1/2 cup cider vinegar
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon hot sauce
1 lemon, juiced
2 cubes chicken bouillon
1/2 tablespoon ground black pepper
1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn, undrained
1 cup frozen Lima beans, thawed

Directions

Heat the vegetable oil in a skillet over medium heat and brown the ribs on all sides.  Transfer to a slow cooker.  Place onion in the skillet, cook until tender, and transfer to the slow cooker.   Place the chicken in the slow cooker and mix in tomatoes, ketchup, steak sauce, cider vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, lemon, chicken bouillon and pepper.  Cover and cook 6 hours on high.  Remove ribs, discard bones, and shred.  Return meat to slow cooker.  Mix in corn and Lima beans, cover and continue cooking 2 hours on high.

This was SOOOOO good!  I was very happy with this recipe :-)

Now with that said, here are the things I did differently - more than usual, actually, but it was still basically the same:
1) I did not buy ribs - instead I found what pork was on sale which was a package of thin cut boneless chops.  They worked perfectly - I browned them and put them in whole; after a few hours, they were tender enough to shred.
2) I did not buy a whole chicken - again, I price shopped and bought a package of chicken thighs instead.  I actually put those in the crock pot first thing in the morning to cook for a few hours; than emptied the crock pot, shredded the chicken to use in the recipe.
3) I did not have any lemons so I used 2 Tablespoons of lemon juice instead
4.) I mis-read the size of the tomato can needed so I only had a small can of tomatoes but it was still really good.
5) I did not use hot sauce - Darryl isn't a huge fan of hot sauce in recipes.

When I make it again my husband asked that I cut back on either the steak sauce or the vinegar because he felt it was too tangy but still really good.  I liked it the way it was but it was tangy too!

Getting Organized Challenge

So, I am still participating in the  21 Days of Organization Challenge over at A bowl full of lemons but I'm not following her order.  Why, you may be thinking? Well, simply because I ran into a problem of not having some of the spaces she is organizing!  We have an old home (built in the 1920's if not earlier) which was gutted and remodeled two owners ago (in the 70's) so . .. we don't have all of the "modern" spaces like a pantry, coat closets, linen closets . . well, closets in general!!  So, instead, I've been organizing my own spaces and have some pictures to show you and I'll be linking up over at


Disclaimer - this is a REALLY long post .. .. sorry.
So, if you are so interested and missed it the first time, you can pop over to this post for day 1 and this post for days 2, 3 and 4. 

So, here we go!  Day 5 at A Bowl full of Lemons was Under the Kitchen Sink.  Instead, I wanted to finish up my desk "re-vamp".  After moving the desk out of Nate's room last spring, my desk became my everything space - bills, computer, drop zone, scrapbooking center, craft "room", teaching desk . . . you get the idea.  Part of the problem was desk #2 that still lived in Nate's room for no other reason than I needed to clean the basement to make room for it.  Well, just a few months ago, we moved that desk downstairs so I finally had a place for my "Craft/Scrapbooking" room.  So, my "kitchen sink" is actually my desk drawers:

So, this is everything I cleared out of one drawer  now cluttering up the top of my desk!

All of that stuff neatly organized :-)  The front compartment is my card/birthday section.  I don't have room for my birthday box so instead, I have the monthly birthday lists right there for viewing!  This is also where envelopes, stamps, cards and address books get stored.

This was the messy desk "stuff" drawer.  Notice the hands?

Now it is neat and organized with all of the desk supplies I need.  (I do have a filing cabinet in the basement that has one drawer where I keep all of the extra stuff)  Notice the hands again?

Here's my helper :-)

This drawer had housed a bunch of scrapbooking stuff which I moved downstairs.  Now it holds my recipe things - the Rolodex cards for typing up recipes, recipes I'm deciding whether to keep, and some little recipe books.

And my teaching drawer with the months stuff in it - this also held scrapbooking stuff.

This drawer previously held the recipe stuff but now, I have a place to keep my "things to do" - that way it doesn't clutter up the top of my desk but, each Sunday, I can go through this pile and write my to do list based on the things I threw in this drawer.

This file drawer used to hold scrapbooking magazines, which I moved downstairs also, so now I have a place, other than the desk top , to store my new recipe idea binder, and my holiday control journal

I almost forgot this drawer - good thing I didn't!!

There is even space now for me to stick my to do folder when I don't want it on my desk top

The current final product.  I am really happy with how it is turning out.  I can actually close the roll top for the first time in forever!

I still have a couple projects to finish - one is organizing the filing cabinet next to the desk.  This will house our paperwork and it will also be my teaching cabinet to keep all of the units I create for the boys.  And the bulletin board - I know what I'm going to do - just have to replace some printer ink first :-)

Ok, day 6 at A Bowl Full of Lemons was Dresser Drawers.   Now, I actually need to organize our dresser but haven't got to that yet - that will end up hitting a different day.  So, instead, my Day 6 is my basement.  Sadly, I have no before pictures (or maybe not so sadly because it was sad!!!)

This is my wall of storage that is nicely organized :-)  I label all of my bins with a # and than keep a master list in my Control Journal with what exactly is in the bin.  (And yes, I make it pretty specific so I can find what I need!! 

Day 7 is The Pantry and I actually did my pantry.  This house, as I said, doesn't have a true pantry but not long after we moved in, we turned a space in the basement into a pantry.  Darryl added shelves for me and I tend to keep it full :-)  Again, no before picture - but here is the after!

Isn't it pretty?

Day 8 is supposed to be the coat closet . . I don't have one, technically.  This was another make do in our house.  I have a huge bathroom cupboard so we added a small closet rod to hang our coats but it doesn't need organizing since it is so small :-)  Instead, I'll show you my neat little "library" corner in my basement.  I just finished up cleaning this area - once again (I'm bad at this) no before picture, just the neat after picture!

Isn't this cute?  One of my creative storage solutions is what's under that leopard print blanket - it is my cedar chest :-)  But it is also a great foot rest.  On the opposite wall from the bubble gum machine is a full wall of bookshelves.  I have all books sorted by author, alphabetically!  (Don't you love the cat??  He's our house guest for a few weeks)

Next is day 9, which is toy organization.  Right now, I don't have a need for this.  We keep things pretty well picked up and have a cubby shelf in the living room plus toy boxes in each bedroom.  So instead, I'll show you my "other" desk - the craft/scrapbooking area.  And, only an after picture of my great desk!!

Now I just need to find time to work down here!

I love this new area - Darryl and I try to give each other some solitude time (break time!) every week and after moving the desks out of what was our office, I lost any "privacy" space.  Now, when it is my turn to get one or two hours "away" - I can retreat to the basement and work away! 

Finally, Day 10 is the Laundry Room.  My laundry sits on the other side of my "library"/craft area.  I only wanted to share you my new shelf that my dad hung for me!  Due to lack of closet space, I needed to get creative with where to hang our out of season clothes (I used to hang them in Nate's closet before it was his!).  I love this space now - it is also currently our game storage . .. which I think needs to be cleaned out a little but at least it is neat :-) 

It's perfect isn't it?  It's nice also because I can hang up clothes that can't be dried in the dryer.  Just below this shelf, I keep three laundry baskets for easy sorting before washing and that is my little freezer :-)  In that little doorway (which some day will have a door once my electrician (aka my dad)  moves a huge wire for me and my carpenter (my husband) finds time to put in a door, is my canning storage.  It holds a bakers rack that has been everything in almost every room of my home which has plenty of room for my pots and jars. 

That's it :-)  I'm caught up  - at least in the days.  So I hope for day 11 I can actually get the dresser drawers organized. 

So, the moral of this story - we all have at least 21 areas in our home to organize so jump in and clean out that drawer, closet, cupboard or small room!  You will be amazed at how much better you feel when you look at that one space :-)

Weekly Song - Everything To Me

These week's song is "Everything to Me" by Avalon.  I fell in love with this song when the group that Darryl is in, "Alive", added this to their song list.  Now anytime I hear it, I always hear Mike singing it instead of Avalon :-)  I just think it has a great message over all and is well written musically! 

I added it to my play list so enjoy :-)