A Colonial Cottage

The two year tree.

2011-11-07T18:44:00.000-08:00

Well, it's that time of year again. The holiday season is upon us and I am proud to say that after two years of working on it I have finally finished my large sequin and beaded christmas tree. Two years ago I worked on two smaller trees, one in silver and one striped in silver and green. I also started on the last and largest of my set. Christmas came and went and I put the tree aside thinking I would work on it the following fall. Well, then came the shoulder surgery and poking pins with little beads and sequins into a foam christmas tree was out of the question.

So when September 2011 rolled around I started back at it. I tried to get 2 or 3 rows done each night while my husband and I watched tv. While I might have missed a night or two here and there, I was totally committed to getting it done. Tonight while at my son's swim practice I finally finished it! The cutest thing happened while I was working on it also. A little girl about 7 came over and I could tell she was watching me. I said hello and she asked me what I was doing. I told her my story of the "two year tree" and she started rooting me on. With each pin I poked in the tree she would get more and more excited. "You're almost done", "just a few more"and "this is the last one and then it will be perfect". It is not perfect, some lines are not straight and some pins are too close, but I love it as though it is perfect. I worked so hard on this tree and my perseverance has finally paid off. This last tree used up over 3000 pins. Some might call me crazy for even making a small tree but I absolutely adore the way they all turned out.

I told my kids that someday the two of them will be fighting over who gets moms beaded trees. Remembering me sitting on the couch for months, working on them. I never gave up and I feel good about that. I hope you all find something to commit to this holiday season. Wether it be a good deed, a project or a loved one. Don't give up on your "Two year tree".
Maura

I need a fresh start!

2011-06-07T07:40:00.000-07:00

Waterfall in Bar Harbor Maine

First of all I had a manipulation done on my shoulder back in march as after my shoulder surgery I ended up with a frozen shoulder. So basically they put you to sleep and wonk on your arm to break up the scar tissue that has built up. I am happy to say that I am actually going to my last physical therapy appointment in the morning and after 10 months I will be able to get back to my regular routines. I was going to pt 3 times a week for 2 hrs a day.

So my next set back was about 6 weeks ago I got this horrible rash/ welt on my leg. Now 2 years ago I had the same thing and both times my doctor ( and a few other doctors) put me on antibiotic after antibiotic trying to heal it up. Well none of those worked and one even gave me an allergic reaction. Both times I was finally treated with prednisone and the welts cleared up. This time however the on call doctor at my primary care office sent me to see a dermatologist who did a biopsy on my leg. Come to find out I have a rare skin disorder called Well's Syndrome or Eosinophilic Cellulitis. Basically something like a spider bite or a cut or a medication can turn into a large painful itchy cellulitis( to many white blood cells called eosinophils go to the injured area, causing swelling and itching). I guess my body just over reacts to certain triggers. The treatment is prednisone for now. If it gets worse or more recurrent then we move onto another medication. So my last flare has finally healed (other then my skin being discolored on my leg which goes away in about 8 weeks) and then it happens.

The latest setback started as another spot on my leg and then a spot on my face and then another and another. I went to the dermatologist again thinking my Well's is at it again only to find out I have poison ivy on my leg and face. I am itching like crazy and a little embarrassed by my blotchy face.

Any how I am turning 40 in December and I have decided that I am due for a fresh start. I had nothing but health problems in my thirties. Shingles, thyroid surgery, GI problems, shoulder surgery, hernia, Wells and poison ivy and I have decided I am ready for the fabulous forties. Please send any and all good karma my way and I promise I will be posting and back to projects asap. I have decided I need to look into hiring a landscaper so I can avoid spiders and poison ivy for a while! Have a great day.

Maura

It's a bird, It's a plane, No It's an antenna!

2011-02-09T06:20:00.000-08:00

So, back in December my husband and I made a New Years Resolution to complete one large project each month. Our January task was to disconnect our cable and bring our phone and Internet bills down. Not everything worked out as planned.

We hooked up our Roku mid December to make sure we could live with it. This is a streaming box and we pay under $20 a month for Netflix and Hulu Plus. We disconnected the cable and I brought the cable boxes back to Comcast mid January. My husband hooked up the antenna, but after many hours of frustration. He was putting up the antenna and dropped a clip (important piece) in the snow. We searched for over an hour and finally asked a neighbor boy if we could use his metal detector to find it. No luck. I then emailed the company who makes the mounting kit to see if I could buy another and they were so kind, Or they thought we were so pathetic and they sent us 2 free ones (just in case). So he finally mounted the antenna and we found out we get 17 local channels. Check out this photo- NO CABLE BOX! YIPPEE! Just our tiny little Roku, our dvd player and our radio- for surround sound.

Now here is where things got tricky. We were hoping to change to Verizon for our Internet and phone but my husband was concerned about email accounts. We have had the same ones for about 10 years and he did not want the hassle of contacting everyone we know and every company we have accounts linked to these addresses. So we decided to keep the Internet with comcast which will be $60 a month (highway robbery) and to get an extra cell phone on our family plan for 9.99 a month. We will be using it as our home phone. Our original plan was to pay $75 for TV, phone and Internet and we only got it to $90 but we are still saving $70 per month.

So on to the next project for February. My daughter wanted to change her bedroom around so we will be giving her room a makeover. Stay tuned for that update.

Thanks for following along with me
Maura

A Shopper's High? No a Savers High!

2011-02-01T08:19:00.000-08:00

As you may or may not know. I am a semi- extreme couponer. I say semi because I don't want you to think I am as crazy as some couponers you may have seen on tv. I am a normal married mom of two who decided (after meeting with our financial planner a few years ago) that I needed to get my spending in hand. He actually looked at our spending and noticed that a large chunk was being spent at target and grocery stores. I felt a little embarrassed and a little mad. I decided from that moment on I was going to cut back and find a way to spend less without missing out. So two years later I now thrive on saving money. That same high others get from buying things, I get from saving.

I used to be a regular couponer who would cut a few coupons from the Sunday paper each week and go to the store to buy our weekly groceries and household items. Now I actually take the time to plan a monthly menu based on the items I have in my pantry and freezer . Each week I check my menu and make my shopping list based on what I need to complete meals. I also buy any stockpile items (items on a really great sale with coupons to match that I can buy and put away in my pantry) I also buy my fruits and vegis based on what is on sale that week. I have cut my grocery bill from $150 a week to $90 a week (this includes my health and beauty supplies and cleaning supplies). One week I may go a little over, then the next a little under but $90 is about average for our family of four.

The deals have been a little slim over the past couple months but this week was a jackpot week. A local grocery store had many staple items like pasta, sauce, peanut butter, canned tomatoes, and cereal on sale with a Catalina. ( a coupon good on your next order -OYNO) If you bought $20 worth of participating items you got a coupon for 10 OYNO. I actually had my husband do this deal and then I went shopping with a friend and did another transaction. I am planning on making one more trip this week. So this week I went a little over budget. I will be spending $120 but I will have 30$ to use next week on meats or fruits and vegis. I told my husband I was having a Shoppers High and he said "That would make a great blog post". Hence the title of this one.

Oh I should also tell you we completed January's Resolution Project. I will post soon about that!

Have a great Day
Maura

Resolutions

2010-12-31T11:03:00.000-08:00

It is the end of 2010 today and I have made my New Years Resolution for 2011. This year my husband and I are going to try to get one major project done each month of the year. To start with we are going to try to cut ties with our cable company, well we will still keep our internet but drop cable and phone service. My husband has been asking me how we can get our Comcast bill down. It is one of our largest bills and it just seems to keep rising. So this is what I came up with.

We bought a Roku about a month ago (set top streaming box) and we signed up for Netflix and Hulu Plus (both free for the first month so you can try it out). So our next step is to buy a roof mount antenna and hope we get in most of the local stations. If all works well we will be dropping cable and getting an additional cell phone to use at home (for 10$ per month). We figure we will cut our Comcast bill from $160 to $45. Our cell phone bill will go up $10, our Netflix bill will be 9.99, and Hulu Plus is an additional 7.99 and My husband needs his baseball so MLB tv is 25.00 for the year or approx $2.10 per month. So our total for tv, phone and internet will now be $75.00 per month which will be a savings of $85.00 per month or $1020.00 per year.

We have had the Roku set up for about 2 weeks now and no one seems to be missing cable. My husband did use it once to watch football but only because we did not have the local channels yet. I will let you know how this all plays out once the antenna is in place but I am not for seeing any problems. Are you all tired of paying huge cable bills? Let me know what you think.

MAURA

Breakfast Freezer Cooking

2010-10-22T10:31:00.000-07:00

This week Collin at Hip2Save is having a holiday Challenge to win some great giveaways. This weeks challenge was freezer cooking breakfast items and since I am having shoulder surgery Monday I am all about getting prepared (for my husbands sake and my own) for the upcoming weeks and months.

You needed to make 3 breakfast items that can be made ahead of time and frozen until you are ready to use them so I chose my 3 and got started this week. I first made pancakes. Now up until recently I always made them from scratch. How ever the last time I visited my mom she made boxed pancakes and my kids raved about them so now I just buy a box, add water, cook, Ziploc, and freeze. Then any morning The kids can pop them into the microwave and have pancakes for breakfast.

Please ignore my disgusting stove!

Next I made a half batch of the Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls. Oh my goodness are these great. My family and neighbors can't get enough. You can bake them ahead of time and freeze them for later use. Like Monday mornings when no one wants to get up! I made them, wrapped the pan in saran wrap and then foil. I also make the icing ahead and leave it in the fridge in baggies to use later.

There were more but not all of them made it to the freezer!

Lastly I made banana crumb muffins. I have used this recipe from Allrecipes for a few years. I do tweak the topping recipe by adding oats and a touch more butter to bind. They are so light and airy and have just a little crunch out of the oven. If you freeze them and microwave later they are not quite as crunchy but they are still delicious.

I would recommend trying any one of these fresh out of the oven or frozen for later use. My kids think they are in baked good heaven. Now it is onto other meals. My kids have brown bag lunch for school and that means all I need is to get some dinners pulled together. I make a monthly menu so I just need to plan my menu around my frozen meal items. Let me know if you try any of these recipes! I hope you love them as much as I do!

You don't know what you've got till it's gone.

2010-09-28T19:34:00.000-07:00

Como Italy

Mr colonial cottage is across the ocean in Italy right now. Hopefully sleeping. He flew all night to get there this morning. He had a few meeting today and dinner tonight at 8 pm. He sounded so exhausted when I talked to him. If you can believe it, his first day at his new job was in Como, Italy. Not bad for a first day huh! I really miss him but I am so glad he found a new job so quickly. He actually took the month of August off and started looking for a new job in September. It took him all of 2 weeks to land a new consulting job

I feel pretty tired these days also. I don't know about you all but I do not sleep well when it is just me and the kiddos. On top of that I am still going to physical therapy for my bum shoulder and I am waking up all night in pain. I had better stop complaining before you all stop reading!

Since I have all this extra time with my husband back to work, I have been trying to get organized for my upcoming neighborhood yard sale. It looks like we will have about 8 families involved and I am planning on putting my family to work that day. My husband and I will man all the goods except toys (the kids are taking care of that.) I even put my mother in law to work, she will be running the coffee/cinnamon roll stand. I am making a few batched in hopes of making a little extra dough ( no pun intended.) I am hoping we will have a pretty good turnout. The weather has been lousy around here this week and is supposed to be bad for a few more days. I am hoping that mother nature is getting it all out of her system before the big day.

Does anyone have any yardsale tips for me? I could use any help I can get.

Maura

2010-09-14T11:23:00.000-07:00

Disney World Mom's Panel

Have you heard about the Walt Disney World Mom's panel? I filled out my essays yesterday and would love to be a part of this group. It is a voluntary position. No pay. However you do go to WDW for training and get a trip for 4 to WDW. You also need to be willing to answer 25 questions a week from people planning a trip to Disney World. You must be over 18 and must have traveled to WDW within the last year. There are a few other restrictions you can read about it and apply here. If you are thinking about applying, do it fast as there are only 20,000 applications accepted and they go fast.

I love, love, love Walt Disney World. I have been 4 times and I know that many people go every year but I just can not afford to do that. We have taken the kids twice now and have such an amazing time! I also love planning my trips. I think you really need to put the effort into planning to get the most enjoyment out of Disney World.

1 in 20,000 are not such great odds but I hope and pray I make it to the second round. Oh did I forget to tell you? You need to get through 3 rounds to be on the Mom's Panel. Let me know if you've applied too! Good luck!

Things have been a little crazy at the Colonial Cottage! Check out the video at the end of this post!

2010-08-22T06:35:00.000-07:00

I know summer can be a little hectic, but this summer has been over the top for me. hence, that is why the CC has been a little less bloggy. So we started off the summer with swim team for two. Both my kids were on the local swim team, which they loved but it was 3 days a week and I did not want them worn out before a two hour practice, so on those days we kept it low key. Then we would squeeze activities in on the odd days. We did this from June 7th to August 7th.

ready at the start

back stroke

Also this summer almost my whole family (i am from a family of 8 kids) decided to vacation nearby. We were at the mercy of everyone elses schedules for about a month. Don't get me wrong it was great to spend time with everyone and to reconnect with everyone but we were also looking forward to some family time. Just my husband, the kids and I.

Well a couple weeks ago my sister called and said she had rented a cottage in maine (the same place we would rent as kids) and offered us an extra room for a few days. We were headed to Damariscotta ME. later that week so we decided to go. I have very fond memories of the cottages, and was looking forward to a little me time.

the floating dock in the morning

All was well until the day we were leaving. I was laying in bed in the loft at the cottage. My husband thought it would be funny to "surprise" me by throwing a T-shirt over the railing at me to get me out of bed. Well, I just saw something black flying at me and I jumped up. Only problem was that my arm was trapped under the blankets. Being the trooper that I am (ha ha) we still continued on to my mom and dads. My son tried to catch turtles and learned to skip rocks. My kids went to the whale back midden which is where the local indian tribe put all their oyster shells I guess Harvard now studies that area. We also went out to eat at the pemequid lobster coop (best seafood ever) and watched the lobster boat races from our picnic table. We had so much fun in their little town and were very sad to leave.

The prettiest little turtle pond

whale back midden

Lobster Boat Races

So I went to the doctors since I got back, and he said partial dislocation of my shoulder so No more driving, swimming or biking but also no more carrying laundry baskets! I have 2 1/2 weeks more in the sling and then I go back to see if I need an mri and/or surgery. My husband is being a real trooper as I am pretty limited with only one arm, and the kids are being great too. I guess the fact that my husband is unemployed and home does come in handy! This typing with one hand is for the birds though! I hope everyone enjoyed their summer and is as ready for back to school as I am! 9 days and counting. Oh and I have another giveaway coming soon so keep on reading.

Maura

Oh and before I forget this is what my son has been up to.

Hip Hip Hooray for Me!

2010-07-08T08:43:00.000-07:00

I know, I know I really should not be cheering for myself but after 10 days with no dryer and piles and piles of laundry building up I finally tamed the beast and fixed my dryer!

The story goes like this. About 10 days ago my dryer stopped heating. I noticed after I put towels in and ran the dryer 3 different times thinking I had forgotten to turn it on each time. Well after ordering a new heating element and replacing that my dryer still would not heat (Boo Hoo). So this time I bought two new parts a thermostat and a thermal cut off fuse. (I forgot to mention I don't have a parts store nearby so I had to wait for the parts to arrive via snail mail.) I first changed out the thermostat and I still had no heat but as soon as I changed out the thermal cutoff fuse I could smell the heating element going! It kind of smells a little when you put in new parts so it is a good idea to let the dryer run a few minutes before putting clothes in there so they don't stink when you take them out.

Why am I so excited you may ask. Well for two reasons. First, my husband will be out of work on july 30th and I am trying to be frugal these days and I also love the fact that I spent 85$ on parts to repair it and I would have spent 150 just to have someone come out and look at it. Second I love that feeling of knowing I don't have to rely on someone I do not know, to tell me what is wrong with something (kind of like when I bring my car in to be repaired). Dryer repair is not as scary as it looks. This is actually the second one I have fixed. The first was at my last house and the heating element went on that one.

I know it sounds crazy but I have never been so happy to see a load of laundry in my dryer!

We have a winner!

2010-05-15T17:42:00.000-07:00

Sorry I am a half hour late. I was having dinner with the neighbors and just remembered about the big giveaway. So I asked the king of colonial cottage to pick a number from 1-18 and the lucky winner is #2! B. Fox of bekafox.blogspot.com She is also a new follower. Beka I will be in touch tonight! I hope you have fun picking out something cool at CSNstores.com ! To everyone else thanks so much for being a part of my first giveaway and for following along with me at A Colonial Cottage! Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

CSN GIVEAWAY!

2010-05-13T06:04:00.000-07:00

Today is the day. I am doing my first giveaway and CSNstores.com has so nicely offered to send one of my great followers a 40$ gift certificate. Now I am sure you must be thinking what can I do with a 40$ gift certificate, Maybe you need a little money to put towards a new sleeper sofa. If you are like me and enjoy cooking you can order a some cool cookware or you can add some ambiance to your home by adding some new lighting. It is up to you to decide. CSN has over 200 stores to choose from, so there is something for everyone. I looked at quite a few things CSN offers and was amazed at their selections. I need a new baking mat- for all my breads and cookies so I think that would be my first choice! But this giveaway is for you guys so have fun checking out all their goodies!

As with any giveaway there are a few restrictions. First off this giveaway is open to US and Canadian readers only. There may be shipping charges or in the case of Canadian readers, international fees, for certain products. So choose wisely.

Mandatory Entry: You must be a follower of my blog to enter this giveaway. So click the little follow button, leave a comment telling me that you follow my blog, and you're automatically entered! Check out CSNstores.com and let me know what you will do with the 40$ gift certificate if you win.

Want another chance to win?

- Blog about this giveaway. Leave a comment indicating that you've done it and post the link in a comment for me to see!

This giveaway will be open until Saturday May 15th at 8pm Eastern Time. Be sure your blog or profile has a valid email address on it so that I can get in touch with the big winner.
The king of my colonial (my husband) will be choosing the winner at random from all the entries. Good Luck to everyone! I can't wait to hear what the winner gets with their gift certificate!

Get Ready For My first GIVEAWAY!

2010-05-12T13:49:00.000-07:00

I am so excited to be able to do a giveaway this week. Stay tuned and I will let you know all about it in the next day or two!

Maura

A sweet little beside table

2010-05-05T07:47:00.000-07:00

I have actually had this project done for two weeks and I am just getting around to posting about it. I found two dark side tables on craigslist a few months ago. They were pretty solid but also had some damage to the top. This is what they looked like before the new coat of paint. As usual I remembered to photograph them after I had started priming!

Now here it is after first coat of paint. Don't you love the pull out tray?

And finally here it is at home in my bedroom. I got some new hardware at Lowes to spruce it up even more!

Oh I almost forgot to tell you how much I love the vine detail across the top. I am debating about getting a black paint pen to fill it in. What do you guys think? Should I leave it as is or paint it?

Happy Mothers Day to everyone ! Thanks for your input.

Maura

Disney Week at Fingerprints on the Fridge!

2010-05-03T06:19:00.000-07:00

Rachelle over at Fingerprints on the fridge is having Disney Week at her blog. Goodness know I LOVE DISNEY. We went this past january and also two years earlier. I also went around age 10 and after graduating high school. My husband is job hunting now and we are hoping he finds something soon so we can go again this january. So today is day 1- packing strategies. Rachelle already talked about using ziploc bags to pack an ensemble for the day and I have done that for both of my kids trips. It saved so much time in the morning because my fussy daughter had already picked the outfits out at home so there was nothing to complain about! One of my favorite packing ideas and money saving ideas is to pack an extra suitcase (if flying on southwest). I fill it with bowls, cups, spoons, snacks, cereal, juice boxes, travel coffee mugs, ground coffee, and #2 filters. and any other breakfast/snackie items I may need. I don't have to spend a ton on snacks at the park and It saves about 30$ a day on breakfast. My kids always have cereal in the morning anyway. It also save a lot of time as we don't have to do a sit down meal for breakfast either. Then at the end of the trip I use the empty suitcase to pack up our souvenirs. I hope this helps anyone going to disney for the first time or anyone just trying to get more organized for their trip.

Have a great day!
Maura

My Colonial Cottage

2010-04-22T14:16:00.000-07:00

So Ann Nicole at oursuburbancottage.blogspot.com is having a party today. What is this party about? Its a How I Met My House Party! I thought what the heck I just need to finish a painting project, mow the lawn and make dinner...so I think I will join in.

I met my home about 4 year ago. We lived in a cute suburban town in New England and wanted to stay in that town. However we had out grown our 1850 village colonial and decided it was time to look for a new home. We knew from the start that we wanted to pay no more then we could afford, so we chose our max price and stuck with it. We put our old house on the market . We found our present home after looking at many newer homes which were at the top of our budget and I did not feel like we were getting all that we wanted. Our wish list included: 4 bedrooms, a fireplace, at least 1/4 acre and an area for a playroom for the kids.

After looking at all the newer homes we finally stepped foot into our present home. It is a colonial and was built in 1973. It was love at first sight but definitely not love at first scent. The realtor who showed it to us made a point to tell us that one of the upstairs bedrooms was the cats favorite room. Now the house was empty at the time and when we went upstairs to take a look the smell of cat urine was overwhelming. I tried my hardest to look beyond the smell and found that I loved the bones of the home. Yes, the carpet was disgusting,

and yes the wall paper was dated,

and yes the yard was a little smaller then we would have liked,

but it was still 1/4 acre so it fit the bill. So we put in a bid on it and the owners accepted, but we did put a contingency in the contract that we needed to sell our other home. Time passed and the contract did too. However two days after the offer on our new house expired, we sold our old one. We talked to our realtor and she suggested we make another offer on the new home and after a little haggling we had a new offer accepted which was almost 10,000$ less then our first offer. We were thrilled and relieved at the same time.

We lived in a hotel for 10 days while we had hardwood floors installed in our new home and were so excited to return to a fresh and cleaner smelling home. They actually had to remove the subfloor from my sons bedroom because the cat urine was so bad. Anyhow it has been four years and we are still in love with our house.

The floors look better,

The wallpaper is gone,

The yard is still a work in progress.

We are still working on the inside too!

I am from a family of 8 kids and my home is always full of family and friends. Family members are always calling and asking if we have any openings in the spare room. My sister got married two years ago and we actually had 11 people staying with us plus my family of four, thanks to many aero beds, couches, and the double bed in the spare room. I hope you all enjoyed the story of how I met my house. I can't wait to read about how you all met yours!

MAURA

Free Starbucks

2010-04-15T07:02:00.001-07:00

Just got back from starbucks with my husband (work from home day). Today only you can bring in a reusable mug and get a free fill up! I guess it is for earthday/ tax day. If you like starbucks, why not get it free today!
If you want to learn how to get more items free check out my new blog- gotnotcentsatall.blogspot.com, It is all about saving by using coupons and such! Let me know what you think!

Could this week get any worse?

2010-04-09T05:28:00.000-07:00

Well my son went in for another check of the nose this week and He is in good shape. Still swollen inside the nose but it is healing . So my sister came over last night for dinner (which was awesome- chicken picatta) and while she was here my daughter stubbed her toe on the coffee table. My sister thought this was so funny as I have always stubbed my toes- I never wore shoes as a kid, if I did not have to, and my toes were always hurt. Anyhow my daughter woke up this morning to find that she can't put any weight on her foot and her toe is red and bruised. So It is back to the Drs again to have her foot looked at today. The pediatrition is not going to believe this. UGH! I will let you know what I find out later.

Maura

Follow up: Just got back and the toe is just bruised and sprained but not broken- Thank goodness!

A Trip ...but not the kind everyone likes

2010-04-05T06:26:00.000-07:00

Well I hope everyone had a nice Easter! We were having a great time at my mother in laws. The kids were getting a little tired and we decided it was time to go. So my son decided he wanted one more run around the back yard which has a railroad tie retaining wall in it. . I said to him.. you know you are getting tired and it is time to go I don't want you to get hurt. Not one minute later I heard his foot hit wood and turned to watch at he went nose first into the corner of another railroad tie. The blood was a gushing and it took 40 minutes to get it to stop bleeding. We decided it was time to call the doctors.

So I call the doctors line and the answering service said they would put in a call to the doctor on call. Well 15 minutes later we get a call back from the answering service saying that the doctor on call is not on call at this time. HAVE YOU EVER HEARD ANYTHING SO DUMB!

Anyhow we did get a triage nurse to call back and she told us it would be a good idea to take him to the er to have the nose looked at. Which we did. The Dr. told us it is a good thing he is only 7 because the nose is all cartilage. How ever he has a pretty big blood clot in his nose which the dr said will come loose and he may bleed again. So for now we have moist air in his room, vaseline in the nose to keep it moist and tylenol for pain. He does not look too bad today. Just a little swollen but he said that everytime he smiles or makes his nose big ( I think he means flairs his nostrils) it hurts. I told him not to make his nose big if he can help it! As for smiling - well that just can't be helped and I am glad to see that even if it hurts a little.

My son loves school and wants to go today so I said he could but no running around at recess and no gym this week. They are playing soccer and I can not imagine the pain if he ever got hit in the nose. Other then that we will be back to normal in no time. Hopefully! Well enough about us. How was your Easter?

Maura

Menu Planning

2010-03-31T10:11:00.000-07:00

I started Menu Planning last month and have found it to be not only a great time saver but also a great money saver. I found this monthly menu planning sheet on the organizedhome.com and printed it off, filled in each day (after looking at our calender to see if we had any plans). In order to fill it in I had my kids, my husband and myself each make a list of our favorite 10 meals (many were dups). I then filled in my menu with those meals, and added a few extras where needed.

I started stockpiling( buying multiple items I use when I have a coupon and it is at its lowest price) about a month ago and I have a pretty good supply of my staples and I only buy my meats on sale( really good prices). I divide and cut them up and put them in my freezer. I scallopini some chicken for some of my meals and cut some up for stir fry and fajitas so it is all ready when I take it out of the freezer to defrost. I put freezer bags with ground beef for tacos and american chop suey and make patties for grilling. This means when I run to the store I only need to get fresh vegis, milk, and eggs to pull my meals together.

I used to wait till 4 to figure out what I was going to make for dinner at six and was always stressed about meals and I feel much more organized now. I also love it that my kids don't have to say "what's for dinner" anymore as they know a month ahead of time what we will be having. I hope this idea will help you get more organized with meal planning and if you have any questions let me know!

Maura

The sweet taste of Maine

2010-03-29T05:55:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Maine Maple Sunday! Never heard of it? Well neither had I until Saturday.We went to visit my brother and his family this weekend. My brother lives in maine and one of my nieces has a best friend who's parents own a Christmas tree farm. It is called Balsam Ridge. In the spring though it is all about the maple. They have small taps going into each maple tree, and from the taps a small tube goes around their property carrying maple sap to bigger tubes and then to a large vat. From that large vat they have another tube that carries the sap to the "sugar house". Now to date myself, When I was little we went to a "sugar shack" (another term used in new england) on a school field trip and they would have each tree tapped, and had a bucket hanging under each tap. The had a metal triangle hanging over the buckets to keep things from falling in. Now everything is so high tech. We watched as they show how the sap was cleaned and cooked to a beautiful amber colored syrup in the sugar house and even got to try samples of maple cream and maple butter. We also had breakfast out side in the freezing cold. ( i think it was in the 20's) But that is how Maine Maple Sunday is done and when in Maine you do as the Maniacs do!

Oh did I mention on Maine Maple Sunday all the Sugar Houses open up for pancake breakfasts and sell all their Maple products. We came home with a bagful of goodies. Including: Maple syrup, Maple candies, Maple Whoopie Pies, Maple butter and even Maple cotton candy! It really was fun and a great idea if you are visiting maine on the last weekend in March!

Hope everyone had a sweet weekend like I did!

Maura

GRUMPY

2010-03-23T14:19:00.000-07:00

Ugh, I am grumpy today and could use a little cheering up. I had a great weekend with temps in the 70s (insert the choirs of angels singing). But the last two days have been rain, rain and more rain. I have a couple projects in my garage that I want to start working on but I refuse to do it inside anymore. I want sun! I have also had a back ache for 3 days due to my 10 year old mattress - it has seen its day and if we ever get our tax refund (yes you heard right- this is what happens when your husband is unemployed for four months) I will be shopping for a new mattress and maybe a new bed to boot! Boy that would make me happy. Spring has sprung around here... sadly so has my mattress!

Does the dreary weather get you down? Or am I the only one? Does anyone else have the old mattress blues? Love to hear from you.

Maura

It's Grilling Season Around Here!

2010-03-15T06:26:00.000-07:00

Ok, so last fall my grill started shooting fireballs at me while cooking chicken and I told my husband it was to dangerous to use any more. Of course he could not just take my word for it. He had to try it out and have fireballs shot at him in order to agree. We decided we either needed to get a new grill or buy replacement parts for the one we had. Well after a wind storm a few months ago our grill was toppled over and the handle was broken off and the grate were broken also in addition to the already broken burner. I guess our decision was made for us. So this past weekend my husband went to Lowes and bought a new grill and we made our favorite ribs recipe. The recipe includes dry rubbing the ribs and cooking them in the oven for three hours in a water bath. This is what they look like when that is done. The meat is already falling off the bone, as you can see.

the are great now but then you slather them in bbq sauce and cook on the grill for about another 15 minutes. The final product looks like this...

I thought I did not like ribs until I had this recipe ( my sister gave it to me). We started making these last summer and we sent some to our neighbors. They all loved them and now when I go buy ribs at BJ's wholesale I buy them for us all and we take turns cooking a package from each neighbor. That way each family gets a rack and nothing goes to waste.

Maura

25% OFF

2010-03-02T13:09:00.000-08:00

I love to save my pennies. I buy clothes on clearance at the end of the season for the kids and put them away till next year. I always get a good deal on my family vacations (waiting till Disney offers their packages) , and stock up on non perishable food items my family likes when I know they are a good deal. The one thing I am not very good at is cutting coupons. Now don't get me wrong I do cut out the bed, bath and beyond coupons, and I use coupons I get in the mail for Kohls or Yankee Candle, but I have never been good at cutting grocery coupons. So I am setting a goal for myself this month to cut 25% off my grocery bill. I usually spend about 140$ a week ( this includes my weekly shop and little shops I make during the week for fruit or meats). Given that amount I am going to try to cut 35$ per week off my bill each week.

How will I do this you may ask? Well I have been reading up on blogs and websites about couponing. While I do don't want to be a "super couponer" (those people who spend hours on end trying to get everything for free, paying .05 cents for a cart full of groceries) I do want to start saving on the things I normally buy. So I started this weekend by buying extra newspapers, I plan to do this again but from now on I will pay for the papers and leave them for someone else who does not care about the coupons. I don't want to be wasteful. I will start a stock pile of coupons and start buying things on sale with coupons. I have learned that you can use two coupons when there is a buy one get one promotion (which I never knew) and I also learned that cvs is a great place to get grocery deals too. I know to some 25% may seem like a little but when you keep adding it up 35$ a week that ends up being 140$ a month and over 1600.$ a year. Thats not chump change. Does anyone else out there use coupons and do you have any helpful hints for me?

Maura

Is this the end?

2010-02-19T04:55:00.000-08:00

A few days ago I took part in the Get your face on party over at the stories of a to z and I posted about my make up regime. I got many responses about the lash and brow gel I use instead of mascara. I check periodically to see if it is on sale. Well when I checked today it was not in the mascara section any more and when I typed it in the search box it came up at the rock bottom price of 4.00$. I was very excited about the price but bummed out that it was not coming up on the main page. I think it may be on its way to being discontinued. This is the the third makeup item in recent months that I use to be discontinued. I am buying enough to hold me over for quite a while but what will I do when I run out? What do you ladies do when your makeup favorites are discontinued? Find a replacement, Beg the company to keep making it, or just forget about it?

Getting My Face On!

2010-02-17T07:00:00.000-08:00

Beth at the stories of a to z is having a party today and I guess I am one of the few crazy people in blog- land who is willing to show my before and after! So here is my crazy face upon waking up in the morning and here are my steps to my made up face.

1. I wash with Cetaphil cleanser 2x a day and put Cetaphil moisturizer with spf 15 on in the morning every day. I put it on my face and neck so I don't end up looking like a twenty year old with a 60 year olds neck. Not that I look twenty or anything. I always put my moisturizer on right after I was to try to keep the moisture in.

2. After that I put on underwear for lids by origins (it gives you just a little bit of sparkle on the eyes- but not that teenie bopper look) I then top that off with a little eye shadow from the body shop- not sure of the name but it is matte and has a number 13 on it. I then put on black eyeliner on top lid only and smudge it in a little and curl my eyelashes and use a brow and lash gel instead of mascara on both my lashes and my unruly eyebrows. I like this because it comes off so easy and I don't have to scrub and scrub to get it off.

After I do my eyes it is on to the cheeks- as you will notice I don't wear foundation. I don't like the way it feels on my face but I do like a little color on the cheeks and for that I go to my favorite Origins Pinch your cheeks brownberry- I think it is being discontinued as I can never find it but I love it. Finally I add a little lip liner- the cheap stuff from the pharmacy (can't read the name anymore) and top it off with Maybelline Shiny-licious in sugar plum. and here is my after.

I know I don't wear a lot of make up but I try to do the best with what I use. I still like to have a natural me look - but better then what I wake up with.

I hope more people join the party! If I can do it so can you!

Heartwork

2010-02-14T18:06:00.000-08:00

Well you may or may not know that my husband and children are really into art. My husband works hard and plays hard and part of that play includes painting. After a long day at work he finds it relaxing to paint with the kids or alone. He actually took about 10 years away from painting and got back into it last year. I love all the paintings he does but I especially love the most recent one he did from a photo. The picture is of my daughter in bar harbour maine.

He has also painted from another photo my niece took in maine of a big old red barn

This one is on display in my dining room

I just love the shadows and light on that one.

Oh and here is a chalice that we found in an antique shop

and as a sweet valentines gift my daughter painted this sweet heart

and my husband painted this one!

I just love my new heartwork. Don't You!

I am looking forward to seeing what they come up with for good ole St Patty's Day!

I am an addict!

2010-02-04T10:06:00.000-08:00

But not the kind you think. I am addicted to homemade bread. As most of you know I got a Kitchen Aid Mixer for Christmas this year. I started out making my old favorites -chocolate chip cookies in it and they came out even better than usual, more light and airy. Then I started making meatloaf in it and now my kids are asking- did you make it in the mixer? again it is so much lighter and less dense then when I mix it by hand. But now I have moved on to making homemade white bread and my family loves it. I am making about 2 loaves a week and I have not had to buy bread in about a month. It does take a few hours to make, not working the whole time of course, but if you ask my family it is totally worth it. I just took my loaves out of the oven and here they are.

I got the recipe from Baking with Julia. It is a great cookbook and I have been eyeing a few other recipes including chocolate truffle tartlets and croissants. I am not sure about the croissants yet as it may be a little above my skill level. If the pictures of the loaves above are not enough to tempt you I thought I would post my "lunch" today. Yum- first a slice of bread.

Then a little butter

and finally a little homemade strawberry rhubarb jam we made last summer

put it all together and it is heaven on a plate

are you guys addicted to any foods?

Some Before and Afters

2010-01-28T10:44:00.000-08:00

Well I have lived in my home for 3 years now, and we have done quite a bit to it since we moved in. I have my basics done like furniture and paint colors and drapes but I am still at work on the little bits that finish things off. I have been procrastinating a lot lately. I will get a project done this week, but as of yet I have not done anything except clean my house. So since I dont have any current projects I thought I would post my before and afters of what my home looked like when we moved in and where we are now. I am also posting a picture of my living room (with the fireplace) to show a fellow blogger what the paint color she has chosen might look like on her walls. It is Benjamin Moore Ivoire. That is the color of my living room walls. I love it and I hope You do to. So without further adeu...

these are pics of my daughters room before we moved in and after.
Her paint color is sherwin williams Lily.

Next we have our front hallway before (narrow and flowery) and after (open and airy). I like open and airy, how about you?

our tv room had spongy blue carpet when we moved in and as with the rest of the house it got a new life with hardwoods. I also love fresh blue paint on the walls in this room

I promised Beth of The stories of AtoZ that I would show her my living room as I used the paint color in it that she is thinking of using in her kitchen so here it is. Before...

and after! I used Sherwin williams Ivoire for the paint color.

Things have changed a bit around here since these pics were taken... furniture layout and wall decor. However I am still happy with all the wall colors I chose.

I will post more before and afters soon of the rest of the house but for now that is all!

Hope everyone has a great day.

Back to reality

2010-01-25T10:10:00.000-08:00

Just got back last night from Disney. My husband, two kids and I all went for 9 glorious days. The weather could not have been better and the kids could not have behaved better. The weather was so nice we actually went to Typhoon Lagoon water park twice. I am bummed out to be back to the tedium of home. I feel like a family vacation was good for my soul though. I really enjoyed time with my family with no dishes or laundry or errands to do. Just good quality fun for us all! I will be back to my projects shortly. I want to work on my second dresser this week and finish my candle holders. In the mean time it is my daughter bday today so I am off to bake cake and wrap presents before she gets home. Hope everyone is doing well!

Almost New Dresser

2010-01-12T15:15:00.000-08:00

Ok so yet again I forgot to take a before photo however I have a second dresser which is yet to be done and It has the same finish that the first had so please forgive me that it is not the exact one. So here is some back round. My parents had these dressers in our home growing up. When they moved to arizona all their furniture (which they did not want to take with them) was divided up between the kids and I ended up with this set. It has two dressers and a full size bed. We use the bed in our spare room and I am yet to decide if I will change that but my husband and I have been sharing one of the two dresser for the past 10 years. I know it is crazy! The other day after letting the paint cure for a few days I finally put my clothing in the refinished dresser and showed my husband all the room he had in his... he was shocked at how full his drawers still were. Thats how much we had shoved in there. It was pretty ridiculous.

Any how I sanded and primed the dresser then did 3 coats of white paint. I had to make new holes for the handles as the old handles were 3 1/2 inches from hole to hole and standard handles today seem to be 3 inches. Luckily the new handles covered up the old holes. So to make the new holes I started by making a jig- a piece of wood with holes drilled in it to match the holes from the handles. I put felt pads on the back of the jig as not to scratch my new finish. My only problem that occurred was that I broke a drill bit one of the drawers and had to go in at another angle to reach the hole in the handle. It was very frustrating. In the end I think it is a pretty great transformation.

Dont you love the shiny new handles?

Here is the finished product. I need to touch up one little spot as the drill bumped the drawer when the drill bit broke. Oh well no ones perfect!

I'm working on it.

2010-01-07T16:02:00.001-08:00

So I know I have not posted in a while and I like to include photos with my posts but I am a little behind the eight ball these days. We are heading for Disney in orlando next week and I am trying to pull things together for our trip while also completing a few tasks around the house. Today I finished painting an old dresser. It was my mom and dads dresser from the set they got when they first got married. They are quality(really solid) but I did not like the cherry stain on them. I have painted one white and want to wait a few days for that to really dry so that I can put new hardware on it. The other dresser will have to wait till we return. I hope to post pics early next week of the completed dresser.

Just like that commercial!

2009-12-27T13:07:00.000-08:00

Did you ever see that commercial when the wife takes her friends into her new closet and they all scream and then they hear the husband and his friends screaming about the huge beer fridge in their basement. Well that is how this christmas was here. My husband has been itching for a flat screen with hd and finally got one this year.

I on the other hand like tv but not that much. I love to bake though and have wanted a Kitchen Aid Artisan mixer for years and I finally figured out how to get one without breaking the bank. My husband used to travel alot at his last few jobs and collected lots of miles on different airlines. They have been sitting there for a few years waiting to be used, but we just never used them so I got this great idea to cash in miles for gift cards this year. I got my mother in law Talbots and my brother in law wine.com and my neighbor barnes and noble and I got my husband a gap gift card. I also saved a few points to get 200$ in macys gift cards and used those to get the almighty mixer! I have already made mashed potatoes and banana crunch muffins and I am going to give bread a try this week. I love love love it, and I only had to pay 86 dollars including tax to get it!

Hope you all got what you wanted for the holidays, and lets hope 2010 is better then all the rest!

Busy, Busy, Busy!

2009-11-28T11:43:00.000-08:00

Well it has been a while since I posted last. I have been busy eating turkey, Christmas Shopping (yes I went out for a whole 3 hours in the am on black friday), watching my sisters kids, and tonight we are going to my husbands 20th class reunion. In between my husband and I put together a project I dreamt up a few months ago.

A while back I posted here about my husband and kids painting. So I had an idea to make a display shelf to put their artwork on display in my dining room. So we started by buying some bead board, a small sheet of oak plywood, some liquid nails and some trim. I already had some white primer and paint so we did not have to buy that. We started by having

my husband cut the beadboard to the height of the ply wood. After he cut them all to match we put all the pieces of beadboard together and used liquid nails to attach it. We did have a little over lap which we cut off with an exacto knife (ran the knife right down a bead and snapped it off).

After we let the liquid nails set my husband cut the trim using the miter saw. I then used the liquid nails again and glued the trim over the beadboard. I then used our staple gun (loaded with brads) and nailed the trim onto the beadboard. Oh I should mention the trim I bought is made to go over beadboard or panelling. It does not have a flush back. I think it was called panel trim.

Ok so now we added our "shelve" which is actually another piece of trim. The kind you would use to cover your drywall corners so they don't get chipped. Yet again I don't know the name. I promise next time I will do better! We again used liquid nails and brads to attach to the beadboard and plywood. I filled all the wholes and cracks with wood filler. We let the whole thing sit over night and the next day I took on the priming and painting. Just 1 coat of primer and two coats of white paint.

Finally we hung it in our dining room(that is a weird shadow on my wall, not a bad paint job) We used large wood screws and finishing washers - right into the studs as this is rather heavy. We added some art and now we are good to go. Obviously the art showing is a little small for the shelves. I have given directions for 5x7s, 8x10s or 9x12s for future artwork.

I think it turned out pretty good, but let me know what you think?

The Stare at my Staircase Party

2009-11-18T05:47:00.000-08:00

Well the day has finally arrived, beth@ thestoriesofa2z.blogspot.com is having a party and I was invited along with another 456 people. I am not taking it personally though. My staircase has been done over and the process took about 3 year! Ugh, actually when we bought our home 3 years ago we had hardwoods put in through out. However we ran out of the green stuff and had to put the bannister and railing on hold till just recently.

It is not quite as fancy as some of the other transformations but when you see where it came from I think you will see why I have been staring at my staircase! Here it is MY STAIRCASE, TA DA!

I am thinking of putting stair treads- nice ones- or a runner down the center but I have not made it to that project yet! Maybe it will be done before next years party!

A Baking Day

2009-11-10T17:50:00.000-08:00

Ok I can't stand it when Halloween goes by and the kids have tons of candy! My kids argue over who has more or who has a better selection. I just let them have at it until it is gone. Well today I can finally say it is gone! So in celebration I baked today. I know, are baked goods better then candy? I think so. They don't stick to your teeth, My kids get the same exact thing and number and I have more control over what goes in it. Well at least I do with my cookies which I make from scratch with butter eggs flour sugar and all that other good stuff. My brownies I make from the box (Ghirardelli) because I don't think I can make them any better. My husband loves it when I bake. He is known to get up in the middle of the night, sneak downstairs to the kitchen and pour a cold glass of milk, and stand over the kitchen sink having chocolate chip cookies and milk. Only thing that gives him away is the chocolate breath when he gets back into bed. Oh and all the noise he makes taking the tin foil off and getting the milk and glasses out. He is not very sneaky!

Kids have the day off for the holiday tomorrow so I am trying to come up with something fun to do. I am thinking we may go to visit my husband at his new office in the sky ( in a skyscraper). The kids have not been there yet and there are lots of other fun things to do in the city for the day!

Crafty Me!

2009-11-07T08:33:00.000-08:00

My house is a work in progress and I guess I am too. I like to procrastinate but as of late I am hard at work on projects around the house. I was driving through the center of town the other day and noticed someone was getting rid of a brass coat rack. So being me, I grabbed it and threw it in the back of my car. I brought it home primed and painted it and now it is a place for my daughter to hang her robe, and scarf collection (they always seem to be on the floor). My daughter loved it! Even after I told her I took out of someones trash.

The next project I saw on http://oursuburbancottage.blogspot.com/2009/10/diy-monogrammed-doormat.html

and I just had to try it myself.

I did it a little different but the idea is the same.

I used contact paper (which I had already) and taped the printed letter (which my husband supersized for me) to the contact paper. I then used an exacto knife to cute through both layers. Then I pressed the contact paper down firmly and spray painted the S, my rug already had a black border around it.. I love the way it came out.

Last but not least I did a simple switcharoo to my candles. Just a change of color from black and white for halloween to cranberry and white for fall/ christmas.

Hope you like my projects!

Oh and here is one interesting one of the vacuum truck coming to pick up our leaves. Of course one of my trees lost all its leaves today! A day late. Oh well! I know how lucky we are to have this available in my town.

It is an early turkey day around here

2009-11-04T06:01:00.000-08:00

I just came back from dropping my daughter off at school. When what to my wondering eyes should appear but seven turkeys walking through my neighborhood with no fear. I have seen them before but not a group this large. Now we do live in the suburbs but not in the boonies and it still surprises me to see wildlife roaming around. A few years back I saw a red fox in my neighbors back yard and we hear coyotes once in a while at night. I just think it is so cool to see turkeys at this time of year... I am now officially in the mood for Thanksgiving.

Oh what a night!

2009-10-31T18:15:00.000-07:00

Another Halloween has passed. We had a great night. The rain held out until we got back and My husband and I got to take the kids trick or treating this year while my mother in law gave out candy. My daughter was a black cat tonight, and my son was Jupiter, of all things.

The kids had so much fun and got tons of candy! We probably had about 200 plus kids come to our house tonight. All in all a success. Now the countdown will begin for Thanksgiving, and then Christmas. My kids love counting down to anything! Happy Halloween!

The artsy duo

2009-10-28T06:03:00.000-07:00

My husband was looking for a way to get some daddy/daughter time with my oldest. My youngest tends to demand a lot of attention from us and my husband thinks it is important to have that time with my daughter. So they set up a studio in our basement to start doing painting and pastels. I love it because it means free artwork for me. I have also suggested that my daughter wrap some up as christmas gifts for grandparents, godparents and teacher. She is actually pretty good. My husband is also doing some painting on his own which I think is great. It is a great way for him to relax and get work out of his head.

AMS is my daughter

Painting Frenzy

2009-10-26T10:47:00.000-07:00

I went to maine this weekend and even though we had family things to do, I did make it into 2 antique shops both in Windham Maine. The first was the Ruby slipper where I found some great milk glass, and the second was pendexters antiques where I found a few cute things. I found a really cute plant stand/ table there. It is just small enough to leave at my entryway. It was a dark ugly brown stain and I just primed and painted it today! Yippie! I love the way it turned out and cant wait to accessorize it when it dries.

Some cool finds!

2009-10-20T14:55:00.000-07:00

Had a nice outing with my neighbor the other day. We stopped by a favorite antiques market place and I found the best wreath to hang in my stairwell. I also went to homegoods that weekend and found this cute mirror to hang by my front door. I am still looking for a little table to put underneath it. I am also thinking of doing beadboard in this hallway. I am not sure I am up for the task yet. My big project coming up is painting my kitchen cabinet. They are old and dark and I can't afford to tear them out so I am thinking a coat of paint will help. I only hope I can pull it off. I am thinking it will take me a week or two to do the whole project and my kitchen is going to be in turmoil for that period. Looks like we will be doing a lot of take out. I am hoping to do this project in the next few weeks. I will keep you posted In the mean time here are some pics of my cool finds.

New Bannister

2009-10-13T11:30:00.001-07:00

Here are some pics of my new bannister. I can't wait to decorate it for the holidays!

Finally

2009-10-09T10:58:00.001-07:00

Well my family has been in our current house for three years. Before we moved in we had hardwood floors put in throughout our home(my youngest has asthma and both kids have seasonal allergies). However we ran out of money when it came time to do the bannister. Then this spring, I finally got around to calling about a quote. When the quote came in we found out my husband was losing his job so yet again we put the job off. Finally today the guys came and installed the bannister! I absolutely love it! I can't wait for the holidays to use it as just another way to decorate. I am also glad for safety reasons to have it. I have already fallen down the stairs 2x. The first time was a small fall from a few steps up but the second fall was from the 2 step at the top of the stairs. Lets just say my rear end was sore for weeks after that!

While the guys were working I made cookies- some for them and some for my kids- they love homemade cookies and milk when they get home from school. I also got around to making my first pie of the fall season. I am having company tomorrow and wanted to make something nice for dessert. well thats all for now!

Family Ties

2009-10-02T09:49:00.000-07:00

Dropped my parents of at the bus terminal yesterday. They are heading back home. I had a great time seeing them over the last week and a half and I was sad to see them go. My dad is now 75 and I see how many pills he takes everyday. It makes me feel a little sad. My kids had so much fun spending time with my parents. They love their grammy and papa so much. On the last day of their visit, one of my children said goodbye to grammy but never got a chance to say goodbye to papa as he was out for his morning walk. My child looked so sad at the bus stop. I decided that this was one of those moments when it was appropriate to bring my dad to the school to say farewell. At the school my son bypassed me and ran straight to Papa. Three sets of hugs and kisses later and we were headed back to the house. I wanted to cry it was so sweet! It was a moment I will remember always and I think it really touched my dad too.

The official start of fall.

2009-09-24T12:55:00.000-07:00

Well it is finally here. The official start of fall. I am enjoying waking up every morning to see the leaves changing colors and drifting slowly out of the trees to my front lawn. I know that at some point all the beautiful colors will also bring lots of work in the form of raking but right now I am just enjoying the moment. My children are so excited to get the rakes out for another purpose. They enjoy raking little piles to jump in and have fun. Such a simple activity but so full of enjoyment. Here is a photo of my son on his roller blades. He is a maniac and I usually have a magazine in hand that I can lift up and cover my face until I hear him say "I'm Ok, I'm Ok" That is my queue to look up !

This is my favorite time of year. I love waking up to cool air blowing in my window. I love that I only need a sweater to go out. I love walking my kids to school on a cool morning. Just cool enough though. I don't break a sweat but I don't freeze either. I enjoy talking to my kids in those few moments alone. No distractions to pull our attention away from one another. I find the fall to be a peaceful season.

I cherish these last few weeks outside before the cold of winter hits hard. Then I will be back to indoor activities and projects. Back to painting and decorating, back to holidays and birthdays and back to counting down to the next falls arrival.

Oh the chaos!

2009-09-15T10:23:00.000-07:00

This week is starting off very chaotic. Sunday we went to an art show for my husband- he did not win anything but I did as I already have the artwork hung on my walls. Then we went to a triathalon for the kids. Yesterday was not so bad except that the kids could not wake up in the morning due to sundays festivities and that I cleaned my oven and heard a pop in the process. I thought I broke the heating element, but thanks to a friends suggestion I found out it was only a tripped circuit breaker. As for today, we started out having to get up earlier then usual to take Dad to the train. After dropping the kids off at school I made my way to the nursery to pick up fall flowers and gourds. I then proceeded to come home and mow the lawn, weed, laundry and clean and now I am about to bake cookie for tonight's dessert and get a meal prepared for coworkers of my husband who are coming for dinner. Nothing like fitting it all in! I am looking forward to a days rest tomorrow, if I am lucky and nothing comes up!

A beautiful fall weekend

2009-09-08T05:37:00.000-07:00

What a nice weekend with the family. It was busy but fun. We went to a party for a friend on saturday and the adults had a great time, one of the kids had so much fun and the other was wishing she was not there. My son knows how to fill his time by talking to people he does not know about rocks and space, while my daughter shies away from making new connections. Someone at the party asked me if my son was the "well spoken scientist". That about summed him up! We also went apple picking this weekend. A time honored tradition for our family. The kids love picking fresh fruit and having a bite or two in the fields. They also love getting cider donuts and apple cider to take home. It is fun for us all and mom gets to bake with the apples at home. I love to bake and made apple crisp for dessert last night. I also love the fact that the kids request apples for their school snack instead of cookies or chips. It is a refreshing change.

Back to school

2009-09-02T06:09:00.000-07:00

Well, that time of year has arrived and the kids are back to school. Now don't get me wrong. I love my kiddos with all my heart but I have been waiting for these days to arrive again. The days when I can go to the grocery store by myself (which takes about half the time and about half the money as no one is requesting *extras*) the days of cleaning a room and not coming back 5 minutes later to find a bigger mess, and the days of folding laundry while watching a few minutes of the today show instead of phineas and ferb. I have been waiting for these days all summer long and now they are finally here! Yes, I do have to get up earlier to make lunches and get the kids ready and yes, I do have to help everyone with homework and yes, I have to be more prepared for things then I do in the summer but I find it all worth it. I miss them when they are gone and I smile when they return to me, but I am enjoying the quiet "me time" which I think every mom deserves.