This past weekend was so nice.
My parents , who have been away for a few weeks, came and took the kids to the movies. My mom and daughter went to see "Mirror, Mirror" and my dad and my son went to see "The Three Stooges". I thought it was cute that they split up and had some one on one time with the kids. After that they all went out to dinner.
Which meant that The Husband and I had....gasp!....free time! I love how anytime we're faced with some free time we panic. Do we run errands? It's so much easier without the kids complaining. Do we do something fun? Dinner? Movie? What the heck did we do before we had kids?
We decided to try and squeeze in a little of both. We went to buy a new umbrella for our patio set. We decided to just go to Ocean State Job Lot, since we only seem to get 2 years out of an umbrella. We've had expensive ones and cheap ones and it doesn't seem to matter. Wind took one, sun damage another.
Then we headed out to a diner we had seen on The Phantom Gourmet and had talked about going to for a long time, but never seemed to get there. When we pulled in, it looked as if there were no cars there, so we wondered if we had made a poor choice. We were seated and almost immediately a bunch of other people arrived and soon the place was full. It seemed we just had wonderful timing.
The food was really good and it was so nice to just sit and talk and splurge on a root beer float and a coffee milkshake. We couldn't believe when the bill came and it cost us just $20.00 including the tip!
We will definitely be going back, but will we bring the kids to our happy place? That remains to be seen.
On Sunday we decided to clean out the garage. Our garage is only one car and very small, we don't park in it. Ever. It's full of the kids' stuff. Bikes, sleds, a giant portable basketball hoop. We also take our shoes off in the garage and even though I have 3, count em, 3 shoe racks, they inevitably end up in a giant shoe pile that I curse daily as I am going in and out of the house.
So, we tried on shoes, cleaned up, swept and donated a lot of stuff that the kids have outgrown.
The Husband went to work today and told me that when people asked him how his weekend was he replied, "It was great, we cleaned out the garage" After a few looks, he then realized he sounded much like Will Ferrell's character in "Old School". Poor guy, welcome to your life.
Hope you all had a wonderful weekend and are handling the heat today!
Showing posts with label Weekend Wrap-up. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Weekend Wrap-up. Show all posts
Monday, April 16, 2012
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Easter
We had a really great Easter weekend.
It started with going to an art show. Our area holds a show that features art from kids in kindergarten though 8th grade and one of my daughters painting from her art class was chosen. She was so excited to get dressed up and show us her painting.
There were a ton of people there and it was difficult to find her picture, but we found it and it was so cute, she used a lot of detail and she was so very proud.
Then, my daughter, a connoisseur of snack food, saw a recipe on the back of a graham cracker box and decided it looked amazing. Easter was the perfect opportunity for her to make it.
I wish I had a picture of her face when I told her she could make it all by herself. The only parts I helped with were adding the boiling water to the gelatin and putting the mix into the pan. She was so proud of herself.
I'll be honest, I wasn't holding out much hope that this would be an amazing dessert, but it was pretty good. It was light and fluffy and refreshing after our big Easter dinner. It was also very pretty.
We spent the day at my in-laws and got a chance to hang out with my newest nephew, he is so adorable, I just want to gobble him up.
I thought that my own kids cleaned up pretty nice too.
I hope you all had a nice Easter!!
It started with going to an art show. Our area holds a show that features art from kids in kindergarten though 8th grade and one of my daughters painting from her art class was chosen. She was so excited to get dressed up and show us her painting.
There were a ton of people there and it was difficult to find her picture, but we found it and it was so cute, she used a lot of detail and she was so very proud.
Then, my daughter, a connoisseur of snack food, saw a recipe on the back of a graham cracker box and decided it looked amazing. Easter was the perfect opportunity for her to make it.
I wish I had a picture of her face when I told her she could make it all by herself. The only parts I helped with were adding the boiling water to the gelatin and putting the mix into the pan. She was so proud of herself.
I'll be honest, I wasn't holding out much hope that this would be an amazing dessert, but it was pretty good. It was light and fluffy and refreshing after our big Easter dinner. It was also very pretty.
We spent the day at my in-laws and got a chance to hang out with my newest nephew, he is so adorable, I just want to gobble him up.
Monday, April 2, 2012
Coming Clean
So, I totally blanked on doing Thursday and Friday's blog posts. I'm awesome.
I have been so focused on my new cleaning calendar that I seem to have forgotten about other things.
I have looked for cleaning schedules in the past, but I would barely make it past the first few days. I don't know why , but they just didn't work with the way that I "enjoy" cleaning.
I saw this one on Pinterest. For some reason it spoke to me.
I really like the idea that along with the stuff I should do everyday, each day I am tackling one big task. I have amended a few things on the list. For example, my son empties the dishwasher everyday when he gets home from school, so that isn't done in the morning. I also try and do laundry during the week as well. I really don't want to spend my Saturday doing laundry, especially with spring sports about to kick in.
It was so nice this weekend to invite my brother and sister in law over and have to just spend a few minutes straightening up rather than the usual cleaning up until the moment people arrive.
My goal is to have this become a habit, I am so happy when my house is clean. I wish it was easier for me, it just has never been something that has come naturally for me. I would love to be cleaning one day and not hear my kids say, "Who's coming over?"
So I've been successful for one week. I won't sound the victory trumpets just yet, but I did actually wake up this morning thinking, "Oh! It's deep vacuuming day!" My vacuum cleaner has a dirt indicator light that goes from red to orange to green when it's clean. I don't know how the little elves that live in there know, but they do. There is something so satisfying about seeing your whole house "green".
So, the theory is that , it shouldn't take me as long to clean this week since I just did it last week, leaving time for writing and other wonderful things, right?
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Making a list
This past week and weekend I decided to finally bite the bullet and make , "THE LIST".
I feel like I have a million things that I want to do around the house. There are things as simple as changing light bulbs in some of our fixtures. (They have like 4 bulbs in them, so I'm not completely lazy, but some have a bulb or two out) and then there's things like putting in a chair rail in the dining room.
I think of these things as I do things around the house, but I seem to forget them as soon as I walk away from whatever it is.
A few years ago , I painted a vanity for my daughter's room. As she's gotten older, she likes to use it as a desk. Her room is small and there's no way we'll ever get an actual desk in there, so I thought that maybe I could get a piece of glass cut and put it on top of that so it could be used as a little desk and would save the top of the vanity. I have been thinking of this for at least a year, yet it never occurs to me to go and get it done. I completely forget about it the second I walk out of her room! It is now on the list.
As I go around the house, cleaning, organizing, etc. I add anything to the list. My goal is to accomplish one task a week. I'm definitely starting out small, like light bulb small, but my hope is to finish the list, not just continually add to it.
We were able to get a chunk of things done this weekend, there's something about nice weather and daylight savings that gave us a nice burst of energy. It was also super easy because my daughter was sleeping at my cousin's house for the weekend and my son was off playing basketball in the neighborhood most of the day.
I love my kids dearly and usually it's so nice for us all to spend our weekend time together, but I was happy for a chance to get a lot of stuff done with my husband without interruption.
That being said, I think we were all in bed by 8:30 last night, we were all exhausted!
I feel like I have a million things that I want to do around the house. There are things as simple as changing light bulbs in some of our fixtures. (They have like 4 bulbs in them, so I'm not completely lazy, but some have a bulb or two out) and then there's things like putting in a chair rail in the dining room.
I think of these things as I do things around the house, but I seem to forget them as soon as I walk away from whatever it is.
A few years ago , I painted a vanity for my daughter's room. As she's gotten older, she likes to use it as a desk. Her room is small and there's no way we'll ever get an actual desk in there, so I thought that maybe I could get a piece of glass cut and put it on top of that so it could be used as a little desk and would save the top of the vanity. I have been thinking of this for at least a year, yet it never occurs to me to go and get it done. I completely forget about it the second I walk out of her room! It is now on the list.
As I go around the house, cleaning, organizing, etc. I add anything to the list. My goal is to accomplish one task a week. I'm definitely starting out small, like light bulb small, but my hope is to finish the list, not just continually add to it.
We were able to get a chunk of things done this weekend, there's something about nice weather and daylight savings that gave us a nice burst of energy. It was also super easy because my daughter was sleeping at my cousin's house for the weekend and my son was off playing basketball in the neighborhood most of the day.
I love my kids dearly and usually it's so nice for us all to spend our weekend time together, but I was happy for a chance to get a lot of stuff done with my husband without interruption.
That being said, I think we were all in bed by 8:30 last night, we were all exhausted!
Monday, March 5, 2012
Control Freak
My refrigerator has always been haunted.
When we bought our condo 6 years ago, we had to purchase a fridge. We were definitely looking for a deal as buying our place had sucked the life out of our bank accounts. We were delighted to find a great deal at Best Buy on a nice fridge with a water and ice dispenser. It had a dent on the side, but that side would be against a wall, so we were thrilled.
Soon after we moved in and we slowly settled in to all the new noises of our place, we noticed a high pitched humming that was coming from the fridge. We tried a million things, but weirdly we got used to it and would only notice it when someone would come over and ask if our neighbors were vacuuming. We would just joke that our fridge was haunted.
Then one day, the water dispenser stopped working. My husband is handy, he has managed to fix a ton of things around the house, for which I am so grateful, but plumbing is not something he would attempt without a professional.
We then found ourselves living without the water dispenser, the ice maker still worked, so we were fine. Then, the clicking began.....
Our ice maker started making ice at an insane speed, and it seemed as if this would be our fridge's swan song. My husband did some research on the internet and it seemed the problem was our control panel. He had seen where the company had actually sent people a new control panel at no cost and would then send a repair person out to install it.
We had the late night talk about the cost of the part (if it wasn't covered) plus a repair person vs. a new fridge. I will admit, I had a gleam in my eye thinking about a beautiful french door fridge, but ultimately would be much happier to save some money.
After a phone call to the company, they said they would send us the part for $200.00, and schedule someone to come out fro an additional $100.00. My husband worked them a little , a 6 year old fridge shouldn't die, etc and they agreed to overnight the part to us for $27.00, he told them he felt confident he could handle the installation, so for now, we didn't need someone to come to the house.
It arrived Friday and we eagerly awaited for my husband to install it. The power kicked back on, it seemed to be starting to cool. This was enough for me...I was thrilled. Then he grabbed a glass and threw it under the water dispenser.....water came out!!! The kids and I actually squealed with delight and Dad was declared a hero!!
Later that night, we heard ice dropping in the bucket, it seemed all was right in the household again. My husband looked over and said, "Listen." I didn't hear anything, which was exactly the point..no more haunted fridge!
We realize now that our fridge must have been dying a slow death all along and it was really a trooper for hanging in as long as it did. We were so lucky that it only cost us $27.00, we didn't have much in there that had to be thrown away since I was due to shop last week. My grocery bill this morning was less than desirable, but so much better than the cost of a new fridge.
When we bought our condo 6 years ago, we had to purchase a fridge. We were definitely looking for a deal as buying our place had sucked the life out of our bank accounts. We were delighted to find a great deal at Best Buy on a nice fridge with a water and ice dispenser. It had a dent on the side, but that side would be against a wall, so we were thrilled.
Soon after we moved in and we slowly settled in to all the new noises of our place, we noticed a high pitched humming that was coming from the fridge. We tried a million things, but weirdly we got used to it and would only notice it when someone would come over and ask if our neighbors were vacuuming. We would just joke that our fridge was haunted.
Then one day, the water dispenser stopped working. My husband is handy, he has managed to fix a ton of things around the house, for which I am so grateful, but plumbing is not something he would attempt without a professional.
We then found ourselves living without the water dispenser, the ice maker still worked, so we were fine. Then, the clicking began.....
Our ice maker started making ice at an insane speed, and it seemed as if this would be our fridge's swan song. My husband did some research on the internet and it seemed the problem was our control panel. He had seen where the company had actually sent people a new control panel at no cost and would then send a repair person out to install it.
We had the late night talk about the cost of the part (if it wasn't covered) plus a repair person vs. a new fridge. I will admit, I had a gleam in my eye thinking about a beautiful french door fridge, but ultimately would be much happier to save some money.
After a phone call to the company, they said they would send us the part for $200.00, and schedule someone to come out fro an additional $100.00. My husband worked them a little , a 6 year old fridge shouldn't die, etc and they agreed to overnight the part to us for $27.00, he told them he felt confident he could handle the installation, so for now, we didn't need someone to come to the house.
It arrived Friday and we eagerly awaited for my husband to install it. The power kicked back on, it seemed to be starting to cool. This was enough for me...I was thrilled. Then he grabbed a glass and threw it under the water dispenser.....water came out!!! The kids and I actually squealed with delight and Dad was declared a hero!!
Later that night, we heard ice dropping in the bucket, it seemed all was right in the household again. My husband looked over and said, "Listen." I didn't hear anything, which was exactly the point..no more haunted fridge!
We realize now that our fridge must have been dying a slow death all along and it was really a trooper for hanging in as long as it did. We were so lucky that it only cost us $27.00, we didn't have much in there that had to be thrown away since I was due to shop last week. My grocery bill this morning was less than desirable, but so much better than the cost of a new fridge.
Monday, February 27, 2012
Just Another Merkle Monday
Ahhhhh...the house is quiet again. I really do love having my kids home for February vacation, but there is something amazing about that quiet cup of coffee on a Monday morning.
I was feeling so well rested when I got up this morning that I made my kids quesadillas for their lunches. I know it's nothing earth shattering, but I mean, the cheese has to melt and cool, so yeah...
Last night was rough. In an unusual turn of events, my son was all set and ready to go. Set his alarm, got all his stuff ready and seemed genuinely excited about getting back to a schedule.
My daughter had a complete meltdown. She told us that she didn't want to go to school, its boring, you just do the same thing every day and she just wants to be home. This kid LOVES school. As far as we know, everything is going smoothly and she has lots of great friends.
We settled her down, got her to bed, discussed the importance of an education (math is important, you need to read higher than a 1st grade level, blah , blah, blah). We attempted to sit down and watch the Oscars (mostly to see what movies we should watch 5 years from now...get it? we NEVER get to the movies), when she came downstairs crying hysterically.
At first, we did the usual parent, "Come on, what are you doing up, it's time for bed" and then she said,
"I tried to sleep , but I can't stop thinking that if I go to school , you and Daddy will die."
WHAT THE *&^^**@(#&*@( !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What do I do with that?!
Here's what went through my mind.
- Oh wow, didn't I just blog about how I would also get these kind of thoughts at bedtime? Is she taking after me? Ugh...why couldn't she just inherit my love for birthdays!?
-Is this for real, or is she that good at acting that she's trying to convince us that she can't go to school tomorrow?
-Am I going to die if she goes to school? Is that how it happens? Great.
My husband went into the , "That's crazy, that's not going to happen!" song and dance with little acceptance on her end. We comforted , we brought her upstairs and I finally managed to say, "I know its hard to stop thinking about a bad thought once it gets in your head, what's something super happy we could think about?"
We decided that our upcoming trip to North Carolina was a happy thought. We talked about what we would do, who would be there and I left her to think about what she would pack for the car, for the beach, etc.
Eventually she was sound asleep and when she woke up this morning, she didn't mention a word about her fears. I asked her quickly at the bus stop if she was excited to go to school and she said, "Sort-of!" with a smile. I'll take it.
I then veeeerrrry carefully crossed the street.
I was feeling so well rested when I got up this morning that I made my kids quesadillas for their lunches. I know it's nothing earth shattering, but I mean, the cheese has to melt and cool, so yeah...
Last night was rough. In an unusual turn of events, my son was all set and ready to go. Set his alarm, got all his stuff ready and seemed genuinely excited about getting back to a schedule.
My daughter had a complete meltdown. She told us that she didn't want to go to school, its boring, you just do the same thing every day and she just wants to be home. This kid LOVES school. As far as we know, everything is going smoothly and she has lots of great friends.
We settled her down, got her to bed, discussed the importance of an education (math is important, you need to read higher than a 1st grade level, blah , blah, blah). We attempted to sit down and watch the Oscars (mostly to see what movies we should watch 5 years from now...get it? we NEVER get to the movies), when she came downstairs crying hysterically.
At first, we did the usual parent, "Come on, what are you doing up, it's time for bed" and then she said,
"I tried to sleep , but I can't stop thinking that if I go to school , you and Daddy will die."
WHAT THE *&^^**@(#&*@( !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What do I do with that?!
Here's what went through my mind.
- Oh wow, didn't I just blog about how I would also get these kind of thoughts at bedtime? Is she taking after me? Ugh...why couldn't she just inherit my love for birthdays!?
-Is this for real, or is she that good at acting that she's trying to convince us that she can't go to school tomorrow?
-Am I going to die if she goes to school? Is that how it happens? Great.
My husband went into the , "That's crazy, that's not going to happen!" song and dance with little acceptance on her end. We comforted , we brought her upstairs and I finally managed to say, "I know its hard to stop thinking about a bad thought once it gets in your head, what's something super happy we could think about?"
We decided that our upcoming trip to North Carolina was a happy thought. We talked about what we would do, who would be there and I left her to think about what she would pack for the car, for the beach, etc.
Eventually she was sound asleep and when she woke up this morning, she didn't mention a word about her fears. I asked her quickly at the bus stop if she was excited to go to school and she said, "Sort-of!" with a smile. I'll take it.
I then veeeerrrry carefully crossed the street.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)