Decluttering - Phase 2

So, I actually have some photos to show you!  I'll start with some  before photos of what will be the Toy Room. 

 Isn't that a great view?  That is what you saw when you looked down the stairs.  It's known as "the pile" and I hate it!!

 This is the view at the back end of the room.  That love seat hidden back there is going to actually replace my couch in my living room (My couch is on its last leg and needs to go!).

These last two photos show the other end of the room and the base of the stairs.  That desk is staying for now.  We plan on using to to hold a TV/DVD player and the games.  Eventually, some day, I'd like to get a flat screen to hang on the wall and get rid of the desk but for now, it is a useful piece of furniture. 

Are you ready for some after photos???  Here's my disclaimer.  This is real life - I went right from clean to unpacking and sorting bins from the other side of the basement AND to kids discovering the love seat - it's a great place to play.  So no, this isn't "done" but it is an improvement!

 Notice how you can see the floor?  The cedar chest is now sitting at the base of the steps (with kids clothes sorted out on it)

And, other than the cushions and blankets on the floor - this area is all clean!  Now, this area is becoming my sorting area as I work through the other side but once it is done, I will post real photos :-)

Now, on to the next phase - the laundry room and the pantry.  Now, I have a disclaimer - I only had three days to work in the basement this week.  (Monday it was so hot and humid I did "desk"work and we had a family day on Tuesday) With that in mind, I didn't get quite as far as I wanted to but the laundry room is clean! 

 Eventually, I have a photo idea I want to do on the walls - a way to display some favorite photos in a room I spend quite a bit of time in.

Excuse the shop vac - it travels with me as I clean downstairs :-)

There are few things left to do but it is one of those projects that includes three steps that need to happen at once.  1)Hang some more shelves in the pantry so I have room to store my jars/canning stuff 2)Move the bakers rack out of the water softener "room" 3)Move the chest freezer into the water softener "room".  WHEW!  It really isn't that bad; I just need my husband to put up those 2-3 shelves for me and I can do the rest.   Also, did you notice the big hole in the wall?  We had to do that in order to get the water softener in quite a few years ago.  Some day, I'll have my electrician move a big wire and we'll put a door in . . .but that is really on the bottom of the list :-)  On a different note - I also decuttered the bathroom this week.  That opened up some shelving which was nice.  Yes, I made another trip to Good Will!!

So what is on target for this upcoming week?

1)  The Bedrooms - I want to declutter what I can from the rooms.  I don't think there will be a lot but if I can clean out some older things/outgrown things that would be good.

2) The basement - Clothes Bins - I have several totes in the basement that house the kids clothes they have outgrown.  I have a friend who is adopting a boy from Ethiopia - she has three girls :-)  I offered her the clothes my kids have outgrown (and she said she wanted them!) so I need to get the bins sorted, pull out my favorites to keep, and pass them on to someone who can use them.  I will admit, it has taken me awhile to get to that point - baby clothes seem to bring back so many memories but then I realized that I have those same memories in photos so it's ok to let go of clothes that are just packed away anyway.  By cleaning out the bins, I will then have empty bins to use to start sorting the other things.  I also want to do something else I didn't get to last week and that is to get rid of the junk (large items) and also to take out big items that need to go to Good Will that are just sitting around.  That will open up lots more space.

Too Cute Not To Toot!

Welcome back to a post I love :-)  Yes, I still love looking for ideas to make.  I sure do wish I could find the time to make more of the ideas but sometimes it is just the inspiration of seeing an idea that makes you do something else creative :-)

This first idea comes from Gluesticks.  I actually came across this idea a week ago and it has taken me all week to find it again!  You may remember that I did quiet bags for the kids when we went on vacation.  Well, this vacation binder takes it step further and I really love it.  We don't plan on another family vacation until next spring but I might start snagging some of these printables now.

One Hundred Dollars a Month shares a recipe for sidewalk paint.  I really want to do this with my kids this summer plus I need to pick up some more sidewalk chalk - both are great summer activities.

 I love this TV stand from Too Crafty for My Skirt and love even more that she shares her plans.

The bookshelf idea from One Dog Woof is super cute.  I think it would be cute in our homeschool room to hold books for the boys to read each week.

When I saw this post at Inspired by Family Magazine for this book, I feel in deep "like".  My husband loves to have tickle fights with the boys - I think I will be picking this book up ASAP for bedtime reading :-)

This travel pillow is extra cute from Entirely Emily.  I love her pattern but just to be able to sew together a simple pillow for the boys would be great.  I hate seeing their heads fall forward when they fall asleep in their car seats!

Here's another cute travel game that would fit in the binder I mentioned above or in a busy bag.  It comes from A Home Made.

Summer Fun - Week 2

Welcome back to week 2 of our summer fun activities (You can read about Week 1 Here). 

We had another successful week of fun little activies - some of them planned and one, not planned.

Monday - I decided to sign the boys up for the summer Library reading program this summer so we drove to the Library and, after signing up, I took the boys to the children's area so we could pick out some books.  The boys loved it - they looked at books and played games for close to an hour.  Here's a little funny story for you.  Our library is actually an old mansion - here's a photo of the outside for you - -

Isn't it awesome?  The children's area is on the second floor and I have never been up there before.  The librarian asked if I would prefer the elevator or the stairs.  I figures the stairs - no big deal since my kids do stairs all of the time.  Well, let me tell you, I almost had a panic attack about half way up those stairs and I don't even have a fear of heights!  It's a winding staircase so as you go up and the steps start to wind around, they get skinnier and skinnier on one end.  I seriously almost had to sit down on my hiney and slide back down HA!  My kids did fine.  Now, when we were done getting books, we took the "scary" elevator . . it's the kind with the accordion door on the inside.  Trust me, as slow and scary as that box was, the stairs were 700x's worse :-) 

Tuesday - This was our family day :-)  My husband had the day off so we took the boys to Boulder Ridge Wild Animal Park.  This park opened last year and we had heard so many good things about it.  It did not disappoint!  You can get close to many animals, feed the birds and take a wagon ride out to see all of the other animals.  Here are a few photos from our day:

Wednesday:  My original idea was to make Moon Sand to play with but then I thought about it - the kids love playing in their sandbox so why would I want to "make" sand to play with inside?  Crazy me!  Instead we made Sprinkle Dipped Ice Cream Sandwiches.  Well, kinda.  I picked up the mini ice cream sandwiches and gave each of the boys a plate of sprinkles.  In stead of dipping their ice cream sandwich in the sprinkles, I ended up teaching them how to gather sprinkles on their tongues by licking their plates.  What?  It was fun :-)

Thursday:  This is the totally unplanned fun activity.  I've been cleaning up the basement to make one area the toy room.  The boys came downstairs with me to hang out while I cleaned and they discovered the love seat that is currently in the basement.  Well, they then spent all afternoon down there and had a blast being "allowed" to eat their snack on the "little couch".  I put away my plans for today and just let them play.

Friday:  We were going to do what I had planned for Thursday but Josh specifically asked to get his Fish game out that his Uncle Kel and Aunt Debby gave him.  Considering the fact that I was saving the Fishing Game for a rainy day activity anyway, I just used the game as our activity for the day. 

So once again, I chalk this week up as a total success.  Looking forward to next week :-)

Here is one last photo - do you know what those are?  Those are sunflowers!  Yep, they are popping up already.  (Excuse the weeds - not top on my priority list HA!)

Happy Father's Day!

First, I want to wish my Dad a very happy Father's Day.  I think he's a pretty good day - I mean he wore a WIDE Snoopy Tie long after it was in style just because I bought it for him :-) LOL  Plus I guess since he had 4 kids who all turned out pretty fair, I guess he has some good fathering skills ;-)  For real - he's the best dad around!!

We did something different for Father's Day this year.  I happened to look ahead at the weather this past week and we noticed it was going to be a hot weekend.  My husband said "Lets get a hotel".  Now, let me say that in all of the years we've lived in this house we have said, on those really hot weekends, "We should go to a hotel" but we have never, ever done it.  I went on Priceline.com, something else we have never done, and bid on a hotel.  We had a very small budget and that is what we stuck with - we ended up with a SUPER nice hotel and we were thrilled!  How is this a Father's Day Gift?  Simple.  Darryl had to work Saturday and today.  By staying in town at a hotel, he gained about 3 hours of time.  The boys and I ran some errands before meeting him for dinner, then we went back to the hotel and hung out, swam in the pool, ate popcorn and cupcakes and the boys got to enjoy their sleeping bags for the first time :-)

 The boys each picked out a new book at the bookstore and Darryl got to read them to them - the boys were very excited.

 Even more exciting to them was crawling into the bed, under the covers, and listening to the story. The first they did when we got to the hotel was crawl under the covers :-) 

Darryl is reading to them while they are in bed :-)  It was after this that we headed down to the pool for about an hour.  Once we got back to the room it took awhile to get the boys in their sleeping bags - Josh decided he wanted the floor but when Darryl got up at 3;30 to go to work, he ended up moving up  in the bed with Nate. 

Today, we are back home, Darryl is working.  As he says, he doesn't really put a lot of emphasis on days like this - to him a "designated" day is not always the best day to celebrate something - instead we just take time out to have fun and do things as a family when ever we can.  As the boys get older I'm sure they will make things for him but right now, the best Father's Day gift for both the kids and their dad is spending special times together!


Happy Father's Day to my Husband - he truly is an awesome dad who loves his kids beyond measure!!

Weekly Menu Plus

Welcome to my weekly menu post!  I also like to do a little update and throw out random things periodically in this post :-)  We had a great week - the weather was pretty much perfect making it easy to get things done.

I became reacquainted with an old friend this week.  Who, you ask?  Well, you need to ask "what" because it is Nestle Quik (Nesquik).  See, I love Chocolate milk.  I try not to buy it but . . well, I love it :-)  What I don't like is Hershey's Syrup in milk to make Chocolate milk so I finally gave in an decided to buy some Quik and see if it tasted ok.  Wow.  I forgot how good it is - it tastes "almost" just like the REAL Chocolate milk.  The good news is that it is a little better health wise than Chocolate milk - less calories, fat, carbs (especially since we drink fat free milk anyway!)  So yes, now I can have chocolate milk every day for breakfast :-)

It is supposed to be warm and humid this coming week so I am planning meals to try and keep the kitchen kinda cool - grilling and the crock pot :-)   My kids usually love bread with things . . .I have decided yet to serve some rolls/bread or not.  If I do that means I have to turn on the oven and I'm trying to avoid that in the late afternoon.  The salads I plan on making first thing in the morning so the main cooking is done before the house heats up too much

Here's what we are eating this coming week

Saturday - Eating out

Sunday - Chicken Tacos, Cilantro Rice, and Chips/Salsa

Monday - Hamburgers on the grill, Pasta Salad, Fresh Pickles, and Honey Lime Fruit Salad

Tuesday - Slow Cooker Coke Chicken, Seven-layered Salad, Mixed Veggies

Wednesday - Beef Tips and Noodles in the Crock pot with noodles and left over salads

Thursday - Parmesan Chicken on a bed of greens with Lemon Vinaigrette Dressing and Grape Salad

Friday - I'm going scrapbooking so I have Chili Dogs, chips and left over salad planned (or Broccoli salad if the others are gone) for the "Boys". 

Food Friday - Chick-Fil-A Nuggets

I have to be honest, I think I've only eaten at Chick-Fil-A once or twice - while flying to Florida years ago.  There was one in the airport in Atlanta.  So yummy!  Well, when I saw this recipe for Chick-Fil-A chicken nuggets and their special sauce I figured it might be good :-) 

Chick-Fil-A Nuggets
adapted from Table For Two

These nuggets are so juicy and tender yet have great flavor.  My kids loved them and, more importantly, my husband loved them and said that I need to throw away all fried chicken/nugget recipes and only use this one.  As a matter of fact, he has even requested that I use this recipe to make some fried chicken - not just nuggets.  I was really surprised that he also loved the sauce.  He isn't usually a fan of a "honey mustard" type sauce but the mayo really rounded it out and made it pleasing to everyone.   I did not truely deep fry the nuggets - I had about 1/2 inch of oil in my pan and just make sure to turn them over so they were done on both sides. 

Ingredients:

For the sauce:

1/2 cup mayo

2 tbsp. mustard (regular prepared yellow mustard)

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1 tbsp. vinegar

2 tbsp. honey

Salt and pepper, to taste

For the nuggets:

8 chicken tenderloins or 6 chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces

2 1/2 cups flour

1/4 cup powdered sugar

4 tsp. salt

3 tsp. pepper

1 tsp. paprika

Peanut oil or canola oil for frying (I used canola)

Instructions:

1. In a small bowl, combine all the ingredients for the sauce, mix well, and set aside or pop in the fridge.
2. In a large dutch oven or stockpot, heat up the oil over medium high heat to 375 degrees (see note below).
3. While the oil is heating, in a gallon ziploc bag, combine flour, sugar, salt, pepper, and paprika. Seal it and shake to combine well.
4. Throw the chicken bites into the ziploc bag, close it, and shake til all are coated well.
5. Using a slotted spoon, fish out the nuggets and shake off excess flour and place on a clean plate.
6. Before you start frying, prepare a plate by lining sheets of paper towels to drain the nuggets after frying.
7. When ready, place about 10-12 nuggets in the oil and let cook for about 5 minutes (but it also depends on the size of your nuggets).
8. Remove nuggets from oil with a spider strainer or slotted spoon and set on lined plate to drain. Continue until all nuggets have been cooked.
9. Serve hot with dipping sauce and/or ketchup

Decluttering (Phase 1)

You may recall from my June Goal Post, that I have some pretty high hopes this month when it comes to decluttering.  I thought I would share with you what I did during the first week.

I am going through every room, closet and cupboard and being brutal.  I decided to start with the kitchen for no reason other than that is the room I always start with :-)  The kitchen includes a cupboard in the bathroom where I store extra kitchen stuff.  I'm not against having stuff that you love and use but sometimes, things start to get lost in the back of a cupboard or you realize that they just don't work for you any more.  My goal was to look at everything and make sure I'm using it.  When I did this a few years ago, I kept some things "just in case" but this time those items are going if I haven't used them.  I also wanted to make a list of things that I need or want to replace.  I sold Pampered Chef for awhile before I got married and ended up with lots of things - those things are all starting to wear out!  I ended up taking several boxes to Good Will :-) What's the point of that list I made?  I think it makes it easier to look for things on sale when you know what you want - I'm a Bed Bath and Beyond Fan so watching for sales, clearance items and using coupons is a great way to get new things! Next week I plan on tackling the Bathroom. 


Second, the basement.  Remember I said I was going to divide it into sections?  The first section I wanted to conquer was the soon to be play room and the bottom of the stairs.  Stuff has just piled up in this area.

It's the "drop zone" - we are bad at dropping things in this area to put away later and then, it never happens.  Again, I had to be brutal in this area.  I am not a hoarder but I believe in using things and getting the money out of them.  Sometimes I feel bad about letting go of something because I feel like maybe I haven't used it to its fullest - especially if it is a gift.  My mindset has changed.  I'm 40 and I'm going to stop being so concerned about what others might think and just do what I want HA  Also as I mentioned in that goal post, we are getting ready to do a big room switch and I'm quickly learning that my styles have changed.  So much of what I decorate with, I've had for 10 . . or even 20 years! (WOW!) and I'm tired of it.  So all of those things I packed away for future use, we'll most of it is going.  I want the freedom to be able to pick out new things instead of feeling trapped in what I have now.  Anyway, I cleaned that area out and it is ready to become a play room.

Next week I plan on conquering two areas 1)The laundry room - I want to do some decorating in that room, move a freezer, and CLEAN 2)The Pantry area - I need some more shelving and am hoping I can get my husband to put a few up for me.  I also need to clean out the pantry and make sure that the stuff down there is fresh and the shelving is set up for good storage.  3) Take out some junk - there is an old chair, some blinds, and a few other odd larger items that I know we aren't keeping and need to get taken out to the trash or to Good Will to open up some space.  Should be a busy week!


Oops - I meant to actually post this on Sunday of this week and forgot so, as you read this, understand that I working on the Bathroom and the next area in the basement this week :-)  Also, I had planned to post photos but I haven't taken my "after" shots yet - Hopefully when I post next week I will have photos to actually share!