my {blog} life

took a short little break the old blog here.  Well, not by choice.  Life got crazy this week.  It was one of the toughest weeks I have had in a while.   

My day off turned into a day on after my replacement at work called in sick.  FUN for me.  I was so disappointed I cried all the way there.  But time moves on.  I promised myself I would get one another day and REALLY do something good for me. 

Today has been semi-productive….I cooked breakfast (hole in the wall omelettes!!), baked a cake, made lunch, and now I am working on dinner.  The laundry is moving, the dishwasher is going, the kids got naps.  We have spent good playing time with each kid individually today too.  Sundays at home are so nice.     I am working on my menu for the week.  I am thinking of repeating some old favs.    Since it will be chilly we will be bringing out two of my favs…

potato soup- my own recipe. 

tuscano soup

I love making soup and homemade bread and warming up instantly! 

I still have quite a big list of things to do this evening before the day is complete, but I am working through the process.  I hope to keep going into my studio and getting somethings done.    I have made some progress and I am so anxious to FINISH it.  I want to paint and organize and be ready to use the space.    I think I am going in there with boxes next to box up stuff while we paint.  It will be chaotic around here for a while, but worth it!! 

I had a fun Friday spent with my pal Nia.  We even made a trip to the newly opened IKEA!  I dropped some cash on fun stuff and had a wonderful visit!!  Time just spent with Friends is wonderful.  It was a perfect visit.  No real agenda, good conversation, catching up, eating YUMMY sandwhiches, sharing our boys, being together.  I took NO pics. sadly.  We were just having too much fun BEING.  lol. 

Saturday was a whirlwind day.  I did a bit of shopping.  Got some fun things to put aside for the future.  I love doing that.  I have finished all my easter presents for the boys, worked towards most of their birthday presents too.  I am ahead.  FEELS GOOD.  That rarely happens for me.

well, not a day, but I have 3 hours tomorrow to myself.  I had gotten a sub for my preschool shift so that i could visit a friend.  But, I postponed my visit until friday.  Instead of going to work, I decided to drop the kids off at their respective places and have 3 hours for ME.  All day I dreamt of the possibilities of what to do with those hours.  They are HARD to come by.  Time alone.  Here are some of the options i thought of…

1.  work on my studio

2.  bake lots of goodies in the kitchen

3.  LONG bubble bath

4.  go get a pedicure

5.  scrapbook

6. take a nap

7.  clean up the house

8. take a long walk

9. work on my photo stuff that i haven’ t had time to do

10.  catch up on small errands I have neglected

I don’t know what exactly I will end up doing, but I do know that I will enjoy it! 

I will post tomorrow and let you know.  I have some pages to share too!!

first off…happy valentine’s day!    Travis and I are staying in today to take care of our baby who is sick!  We figure on fourteenth valentine’s day together we can take a break from the hoop-la.    Ashton needs us too.  He has an ear infection and RSV.  I felt it coming.  I knew after experiencing RSV with Alex that he had it.  I knew before it progressed…which is good, because we caught it early and we are in great shape.  He has breathing treatments 3 times a day (alex had them every 3 hours when he had it).  It is manageable.  HE is also on a decongestant and antibiotic along with fever meds.  I have to seriously balance the meds well.  haha.  poor kid is strung out. 

Today I am home cleaning, preparing for the next week.  I went into my studio for a bit to purge.  I quickly left.  haha.  where do I begin?  I almost took a pic.  It is BAD.  BAD.  I have pulled out my props and baskets into our hallway.  THe christmas decor will come out tonight along with halloween to be put somewhere else.  I am so ready to get it done, just don’t know where to start.  I have to empty the room so we can paint.  I want to purge before i box up.    Today I was dreaming of having a play room for the kids.  We need one.  They have tons of toys and 2 rooms.  NOt enough room for it all.  I purged down again in there and we still have toys overflowing.  I found some bright fun pieces that would make a great playroom.  Part of me had a crazy idea to give my studio to them as a playroom.  And restore our front parlor for the home office.  I am going to run it by T and see what he thinks.  We have no need for 2 living rooms.  Really.  It could be fun.  It would put the office on hold a LITTLE longer but really it could solve a ton of problems.  We shall see what we decide. 

back to the clean up!

as stated earlier, I have vowed to eat IN all month.  I strugle most with coming up with enough different things for us to eat without getting bored.  Bear in mind they must be easy to make and clean up as well!  I am always so curious what others eat and how they meal plan. I thought it would be fun to share what we eat during a week and hopefully some of you will share with me.  If you have a blog, blog it and link me.  (you too KPL and KB!)  or you can just post in the comments!  I am hoping ot be inspired by some of you to cook something a little different.   

MY WEEK OF MEALS:
night one:  cheeseburger casserole and parmesan wedges

night two: Roast chicken pot pie and mashed potatoes

night three: spaghetti and garlic bread, side salad

night four: lemon pepper tilapia, herb gratin potatoes, and salad

night five: pork loin chops, green beans, home made mac n cheese

night six: sausage and zuchunni tortelonni casserole

night seven: chicken quesidillas, rice, guacomole and chips

these aren’t necessarily in the order of what we would eat them.  I usually pick 7 meals, have the stuff on hand and go with what I am in the mood for.    As you can see we eat a LOT of carbs!!  haha.  I try to slip in veggies as sides as much as possible.  We eat a TON of green beans because our family cans them and shares them.  I could survive a entire winter on our greenbean stash alone!  lol.  I cook a lot of potatoes because they are my fav food and the kids will eat them for the most part.    For lunches we usually have leftovers and fruit.  SIMPLE in this household.   

SO SHARE WITH ME!!!!

i was a good blogger, then the lack of sleep set in!  I am back to report that we are sleeping once again!  I had to give up caffiene (i cheated and had a cheerwine this morning…shhhhh!)  and that seemed to help some.  Then my parents graciously decided to keep ALL three of our kids last saturday so me and T could sleep.  And sleep we did!!  I felt energized and ready to tackle nighttime on Sunday.  And low and behold, he slept.  He is sleeping for 3 hours, feeding, then sleeping for 4.  So I will take that.  It has been consistent all week.  Eventually I will wean that feed and we will go all night hopefully.  He has been in such a better mood since he is getting sleep too.  I think we were all just stuck in a bad sleep place.  *sigh*

moving on…

STUDIO/SCRAPBOOKING

I am working on my studio.  Ok…that is a lie.  I am THINKING about working on my studio.  haha!  I have no means to work right now.  I am going to get a sitter one day and go in there and work!  I did pull out most of my scrap stuff into the dining room this week to *play*.  It has been quite fun and it is motivating me to get my space together.  I need to be able to play more often. I miss it.  I have 6 pages done right now I believe.  I am missing my scanner in a major way.  Pics never do the pages justice.  *sigh*

Speaking of scrapbooking.  I have been scrapbooking for almost 10 years!!!  Can you believe that?  This month my favorites scrapping place (www.twopeasinabucket.com) is celebrating their ten year anniversary.  I still remember the first day I found 2peas.  I was hooked.  And back then it was a simple little place.  It had a bucket with peas sketched inside this black and white frame on the home page and I think it had shopping only.  Then from there I watched the site bloom to be the powerhouse that it is today.  EXCITING for them!! Time flies!

ON THE HOMEFRONT:

I have pledged to eat in this month.  We took a hard look at the budget this month after watching an INSANE amount of money fly away to neverland last month and we saw the ugly truth known as the drive-thru phenomenon.  Apparently quick food means you cash quickly disappears.  HA.  I really stood by the word that we don’t drive thru *that often* but when I looked back, we do.  I am notorious for grabbing a quick happy meal for Austin on the way home from school.  I love me a warm biscuit on work days too.  I have struggled with this for years.  I don’t personally like fast food (other than biscuits) but I like the fast fix of it.  HOWEVER, I am taking this month off.  COMPLETELY.  I hope to see an improvement in our budget and our health!  It amazes me how much the food has gone up lately anyway.  I used to could grab breakfast for me and Austin for $4.  Now to feed me and Alex (Austin is in school by then) is $10.  Do that more than once a week and my paycheck is GONE.    So this month I am having easy snacks and meals for quick grabbing.  Stocking up the fridge on easy to grab stuff too.  Plus cooking every night.  YES…me.  I have done it for a week now, with the exception of Monday when we ordered pizza instead of heading to the grocery store with 3 kids in tow.  haha.  I can do this…right?

MOMMY UPDATE:

my children are growing right before my eyes.  I took a stroll down memory lane this week looking at old photos and scrapbook pages.  It was so amazing to see how much they have changed in such little time.  I feel time slipping between my fingers every second.  Ashton will be 5 months on monday.  that can’t be TRUE!  ACK.  I have a goal to take new photos of the kids this weekend.  It is supposed to be beautiful, so a photo day is a must.    I tend to neglect my kids from the camera as my business keeps me busy.  But this weekend, they each get their own sesssion! 

DREAM HOME:
THis week I found my old dream home plan.  We have had the same houseplan for YEARS in an old book.  DREAMING.  Seriously dreaming.  While i love this house and I am thankful for it coming together, I still want *my* house one day.  I get frustrated here with the small kitchen and lack of closets and bathrooms.  Then I looked at my dream sketch and holy cow….it is heaven.  I stand by my word that part of our *cleaning issues* is the lack of storage space in this house.  Linen closet, not here, bathroom storage, nope, attic space, none, coat closet, not anywhere to be seen.  And don’t get me started on no pantry.  ACK.  I feel my blood pressure rising as I type.  haha.  Those missing things leaves items cluttered onto countertops, floors, tables, etc.  It is hard.  We have no where to put anything.   SO where am I going with this?  haha.  I decided that I am going to start saving for our new home.  While it will take me YEARS to get a tiny bit of it saved, I am ready to commit to that.  My goal for 2008 was to pay off debt and get under control.  I failed.  We did get it under control somewhat, but paid off, not really.  It is time to make it happen.  I am making it my goal to pay off debt and SAVE to make having our dream house a possibility.  We are in a good place if we just make the right choices.  Debt is an awful thing.  I dont mind going in debt for cars or houses, but when you think of the $20 shirt you put on a card and how it ended up costing you$100 after paying interest on it for a while, it gets crazy.  I have started thinking in that mindset now.  When I want something and I am low on cash, I take the price x 4 and say is it worth it?  Suddenly that $20 shirt lost it’s appeal. 

ok, I could seriously type random things all day. I am feeling chatty.  haha.  I always get that way when I am pumped up!  watch out world.