What to do When it Snows in April

It happened again. We got a beautiful taste of the most amazing spring weather. The sun shone. The trees looked alive and happy. The birds visited our (4) feeders and chirped all the while.

And then it snowed. It snowed on and off all day long.

Our skis are packed away. The snowboards have their summer wax. My mittens are in hiding. Even my winter coat has gone down for its months-long nap.

  Get a coffee. Okay, okay, I don’t drink coffee. Instead, I got a hot chocolate with a shot of caramel. Ooh, so delicious! And it warms you right up! My mitten-less hands were happy as can be.

 Cozy up with a good book. This is my plan for later this evening (along with #3), once Kid is asleep. I have just the book, too. I’m currently reading The Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline. Good book. I suggest you read it!

 Take a nice, warm bath. And the only way to do that is with a good book (see #2) and a bowl of Cheetos. Can’t go wrong with that. This is another one, though, that needs to be done when Kid is asleep. Otherwise, it just isn’t that peaceful.

 Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy the sun when it’s out.

Get outside! The laundry can wait until later!

Enjoy it, because you never know when it may snow in April. Or May.

Or even June!

Check. It. Out.

Do you see what I see?

That's right. A camera battery that is being charged! I found one of two missing battery chargers. This one was at my place of employment, hiding under a stack of papers that was covering a stack of books. Whoops.

I'm SO relieved that I found it for two reasons.

1. iPhone pictures are only so good.

2. My best buddy is getting married in a couple of weeks, and her bachelorette party is tonight.

Can we say "perfect timing?"

Back to Life, Back to Reality...

Well, Spring Break ended a week ago. I've been back at work for five days and have eaten dinner at home once. I find it sad that this is my reality, but it is. The husband and I are so busy. We both have family that lives nearby.

It's become tradition to have dinner at my parents' house each Monday, which I love. My sister and brother-in-law are there with my niece. Sometimes my younger brother shows up. It's a great family time. It has also become a tradition to meet up with my high school girlfriends on Tuesdays. Two nights out of the house right at the beginning of the week. I don't know why, but having those two nights booked makes me feel extra busy, all the time. Even if those are the only "busy" nights.

I will say, though, that it makes it rather difficult to get things done around the house. We have a pile of mail that has sat on the kitchen counter since before we left on vacation. Our office and bedroom are still a disaster.

I'm unsure as to whether or not the two are correlated, but I have been in tears quite a bit this week. We have been home since Saturday, but have accomplished nothing at our house (irritating, I have to admit). This makes me frustrated, and frustration can easily bring me to tears. The other side of the teary-eyed story deals with the dragons we were given. One started displaying dominant and territorial behaviors. The other is not doing well. They've been separated and the territorial one has been re-homed, but I cried about them, too.

I'm hoping that it's a combination of being away so much these last weeks (we leave town tomorrow), the mess that is my living space and the full moon that have made me cry so this week.

Lull

I've been on a blogging lull as of late. I'm finishing up some coursework for my master's degree and it has taken its toll on me. Who knew a master's was so much work!? Just kidding...I knew going into it that it would be a TON of work. I am set to be completely done, though, at the end of the next school year. I have just under a year and a half left. Pretty exciting!

Like I said, though, it has taken its toll on me. I'm tired. It's hard to go to school when you're working full time--be that working full time as a mom or in the business world. It's just tough.

As summer nears, though, I am looking forward to having more time at home. I'm a teacher, you see, and school will be wrapped up by June. Of course, I nanny during the summer, so I don't get to be a stay at home wife (no kids, yet!). I will still be working three days a week, but will absolutely adore the Mondays and Fridays that I do not work.

I've already started a list of projects that I would like to finish by the end of summer. I don't want to say they are summer projects, because I hope to get to them during the school year too.

My list of projects:

• paint the ugly fish stand we have
• paint the house (outside)
• paint the kitchen and hallway
• re-do our deck (specifically, the stairs...they're wobbly and lopsided)
• garden! (seeds are going to be started tonight or tomorrow!)
• learn how to make pickles
• make a piece of art for the blank wall we have above the stairs/in the entry way

I could continue, because now I'm getting into the brainstorming mood and the ideas are starting to flow...but, I have to run to the grocery store for our dinner feast.

Don't forget to change your clocks!

The Wall...

If you have read the post about wall demolition, you will know that husband and I have been tearing down the wall that separates the kitchen/dining room from the living room.


Everything is moving along fabulously, and the husband and I are just letting the mud dry. I've been told (who knew?) that the joint compound will contract when it dries, which means that we may need to go over it once or twice more. And that is okay by me. Here's how everything looks now (please excuse the mess, we started this whole project without cleaning up/putting things away):

Last night:

 This morning:

This moment:

I have to admit that it is rather exciting to have the wall completely gone. I love it. It definitely means that we will have to keep our kitchen nice and tidy at all times (that's a tough one). Our living room is so much brighter now (there are no ceiling lights, only a lamp or two). With the wall gone, the natural light from our sliding glass door and the kitchen window do wonders for the lighting situation.

Like I said before, we still have some joint compound to add. And then, I know that the husband and I will want to paint straight away. I already have a color in mind. It's called Olivewood, and I adore it. At this point, it is the color of our entry way. But, with the dreams I have for the kitchen cabinets, Olivewood would work wonderfully in the kitchen and dining room. Plus, we have two walls that are painted with Glidden's Soothing Green Tea. I think the Olivewood would really tie everything together.

I love big projects (and I am most thankful that my husband does, too!).

Crock Pot Tacos

I love tacos, especially chicken tacos. I also love my crock pot (well, crock pots...I have three). I just finished throwing dinner for tonight in the crock pot and now can go on with my day (working on organizing project #2, laundry, typical house stuff..). The chicken for the tacos will be done in four to five hours, it's that simple!

Here's what you need:

• 4 frozen chicken breast halves
• 2 cans diced tomatoes and green chiles (we use the Rotel brand)
• 2 tablespoons Cholula Sauce
• 1 cup salsa (I blend it beforehand, but that is totally optional)
• 1 cup chicken broth

Here's what you do:

• Place the frozen chicken breasts in the crock pot.
• Add everything and stir it up a bit.
• Set your slow cooker to cook on high for 4 to 5 hours. Be sure to check and stir it up once in awhile. When the chicken is done, use forks to shred the chicken while in the crock pot.

This makes a pretty "wet" taco, so I use a noodle scooper (does it have a real name?) or a slotted spoon to scoop the chicken onto tortillas. I serve this with homemade Mexican rice (not store bought...it just doesn't taste the same!) and margaritas.

Enjoy the tacos!

For those of you that were wondering, this is the recipe I was working on when I had a homeowner novice moment and met The Gas Man. Ay, ay, ay.

Project: Organize #1 ~ The Pantry

Because our kitchen is so tiny, our pantry isn't actually in the kitchen. It's in the hallway. I know it sounds weird, but our kitchen is weird (and I kind of really don't like it). But, I love everything else about this house so I can put up with the kitchen (remodel plans are in the works!).

Anyway. The pantry is in the hallway, and it's a pretty good space. And today was the day to make it organized. I had a few places I needed to stop before I could actually start organizing (any excuse to go to The Container Store, right?). My first stop was at Crate & Barrel in search of freezer safe opaque storage, but that's an entirely different project.

Crate & Barrel wasn't that impressive today, so I headed down the road to The Container Store. My oh my, that store is beautiful. I could lose myself there for hours, and I could spend thousands. I found what I was looking for cabinet shelves and under-shelf baskets.

Pretty, oh so pretty. I'm extremely happy with these two products, and cannot wait to go back to The Container Store to show my husband the amazing elfa storage system. And the elfa stuff isn't just for the kitchen! It can be anywhere. Ahh, I'm in love with the entire store.


Back to the pantry project. Husband and I shop at Costco and stock up on our canned goods there. Which means we have a lot of the same item at times. Being that my pantry is in the hallway, taking one picture of the entire thing was..well, not good. The picture doesn't look that great, see:

Here's what I'll do: give you the before picture (on the left) AND the after picture (on the right) at the same time.  Ooh, special.

This first pictures are of the top, left side of the pantry. You can see that it originally was the cereal storage. Not ideal, because there are chips and stuff behind the cereal and if you know me at all, you know I'm short. And unable to reach things at the back of that shelf. So now, it is the lesser needed items: napkins, paper towels and the "back-up" toilet paper rolls.

Below that shelf now the Kitchenaid attachments, extra Ziploc baggies and some cough drops are found. It used to be ALL of the canned items--the only other shelf that used to hold food items in the pantry.

The bottom two shelves on the left side used to hold appliances that didn't otherwise have a home in the kitchen (and the rice). These ones stayed the same because everything fit so nicely:

The liquor cabinet also stayed the same. Again, everything fit so nicely and it is up high. Mr. Husband and I don't have any kids, but we will someday. It's important to keep naughty things out of reach.

Next, the napkins, paper towels, Pledge, and paper bags were kicked out and some food (cereal, chips, pancake mix) found their new home.

Then, we had the paper plates, table clothes and other random stuff that didn't really have a home otherwise. It was one of those shelves that was the catch-all. Now, it has most of the canned goods (which are mostly tomatoes and a few other random things). Hopefully next year, the canned tomato items will be homegrown, but that's another post for the future.

Then came the shelf with the pointless dividers. I took those right out with Mr. Husband's drill, hung the under-shelf basket and packed in the cream soups, oils, noodles and popcorn kernels. Popcorn on the stove is the only way to go. We always have popcorn kernels on hand for a quick snack (and, it's just plain fun to make). I'm glad I ended up taking the shelves out, though. It was difficult to store anything there in the first place.

And finally, the bottom shelf, that used to house some cleaning supplies. It now has boxed items (instant potatoes, stuffing mix), some sauces, seasoning packets and a few packages of noodles. The cleaning supplies that started there are now hanging out in the front hall closet, near the Swiffer mop, steam mop and broom. It seemed like a much better place.

Now, after that crazy-long post, I've already started organizing some other aspects of my house. The front hall closet, cabinets in the kitchen (under the sink!) and under the bathroom sink.

I love long, productive weekends!

Therapy for All!

I need to learn to squeeze more things into life.  Here's the thing. I love to make, to create things. To me, it is soothing. I had such a productive weekend. Putting up and decorating the Christmas tree, adding Christmas decorations to our house, making stockings and pillows. It was wonderful and I loved every minute of it.

But now, the work week is back. My evenings are filled with making dinner, which in and of itself is a creation, but my culinary skills are still at the recipe-following (to a T) stage. Eventually, I would like to get beyond that point so that cooking does become a creation. I'm not there, yet. The laundry piles up in the basement and the dishes pile up in the sink, even though we have a dishwasher (thank you in-laws for the wonderful dishwasher last Christmas!).

I need to make the time to crochet at night. Or paint, or sew. If only for five minutes. Maybe sewing, painting, creating is my therapy. Therapy or not, I love it and need it in my life.

Everyone needs a little therapy, anyway.