Changes!

The place is changing again. I don't love it. But I don't hate it either. If I only had some extra cash flow lying around to get someone to do it for me ;)

Ready for the exciting news though? I've almost hit my 100th post. Expect a giveaway! With LB1's party and our house news (to come soon) and, me being a hater(Kidding, sort of). I'm not making anything, I'm just to busy. BUT, this is just as good. I promise! You'll love it. :) Stay tuned!

Now time to make my house spotless! :) Hint. Hint.

The Kitchen, Part 1209.

Anyone wonder what's been going on with this mess? It's been at a halt. But for entertainment purposes and to kick myself to hurry up and finish it. I'll show you the biggest pain in the neck project we've done.



Oh, the other reason is because today is the first day in months the kitchen is absolutely clean. Give it 10 minutes with a 3 year old and a 18 month old. It'll be back to it's old ways soon.

Let's reminisce.



Before: Old, ugly, no cabinet space, 4 feet of counter space. Fo' real.

During: Dusty, crowded, gave me a twitch.




After: Ahh. Room! Every pot and pan has a place, we have a real life dining room, and enough counter for a breakfast bar. Whoohoo! (Now only if we had some bar stools!!)



It's not decorated by any means, I just threw some stuff up there so it wasn't so- Blah. And, the poor dining room with just a table- It's been begging me to fix that swag. I'm about to take Nesters idea on how to get a light fixture put up correctly. Think it'll work for the floor trim too? Oh well, I'll let up on Mr. P, considering he's gone all but two days a week. I'm a nice wife like that :)

The best part about this make-over? It only cost us around 1800.00 total. Yeah, I said that right. The trick? Being cheap thrifty. We bought all unfinished cabinets which made a huge difference. That was a big chunk of change from our budget, but compared to what we could have spent, awesome. The counters are laminate as granite just wasn't in the budget for us. 400.00 for all that, can you believe it? Me either. It's still just lovely. The back splash wasn't supposed to be on there. But, after all the problems we had with the company I just wasn't sending it back again! Half of the floor was already tiled so we just needed to do the dining room. They're just peel and stick, we got a huge deal on them, the whole room was about 10 bucks- no really. That kind of deal! Some people hate it, but it's a quick update and looked 100000.8 times better than what was under there before shudder.
We did everything ourselves except for the electricity in the dining room, which was worth the 40 bucks, knowing we wouldn't be electrocuting ourselves. :) However with all those windows we barely need those horribly swagged lights.
And, of course the hardware, it all came from Target. They have packs of 10 or something of the sort for 20 bucks. They're lovely.

So, fixing up a kitchen on the cheap is possible. Taking good pictures of it though, I can't promise that.

Meatloaf Muffins

I hate the word "MEATLOAF", it grosses me out a lil' bit. Who wants a loaf of meat? Reminds me of Sweeny Todd.

But, before I gross you out more and you LEAVE, these are delish so I have to share!

I got the recipe from Kraftfoods.com they have all these add ins too so you can make a bunch of different ones, think: Taco, Italian, old school ketchup, and my favorite- BBQ & Cheese!

To start- Mix 1lb of hamburger, 1 packet of stove top mix, and 1 cup of water. Mix and scoop into muffin tins. Pat the middle down and top with your add in (ie. BBQ..mm!)

See, I used spaghetti sauce for one batch, bbq, and ketchup.

Bake at 375 for 30 minutes, take those suckers out, sprinkle a ton'o cheese a smidgen of cheese because well, it's bathing suit season..and pop back in for 5 minutes. Then let cool for 10.

Yum! So good, and I'm not even close to a cooker- and I made this. So absolutely anyone could do it! They freeze well too! Easy to pop some out for a quick.. "oh great I forgot to make dinner".. moment.

Obviously you can tell we liked em! I'm off to find some more muffin tin ideas! I may or may not be addicted to teeny tiny servings of things from muffin tins now.

Oh, and my clocks off. We do not eat dinner at 8:44 at night. :)

Ode, to the Bestie.

Ode, to my Bestie

A few of you may remember a while ago when I had a problem with these guys?

Yes, well- Maybe I haven't mentioned this but I have a problem with spiders. Like, hyperventilate, ridiculous embarrassing problem.

Hate. Them.

So, be it my luck that as I was doing laundry one day I notice a spider nest. No, not just a tiny white ball hanging from the ceiling (which in itself holds like what, 2 billion baby spiders?) I mean, some arachnophobia nest. Millions.

I googled.

Not only are they creepy. They fake death. You smoosh them, and they fall. Uncurl and crawl at you. Sprint really, if you will. They come out at night--

and the worst, they hunt in packs.

Yeah, give that a minute to sink in.

So, one night during as I was getting the house ready for bed, say oh 2:02 am... I see one. And, this guy isn't just a spider, he's a spider on crack. Spinning around the cabinets like a moth to a light.

Then, I see his friend.

I turn to get the spider spray from the cabinet behind me, and I see another. I start to run walk calmly to the foyer to get the broom, turn on the light and there's 3 more.

Yep, time to move.

Who do you call (ghostbusters) The bestie.

Now, I give you our text messages.

And I quote.

"OMG are you still up?"

"I am now why"

"I'm under attack"

"What? By what?

This is when my phone rings. I tell her what it is, she says she's in bed. She has to work in the a.m. I say, it's okay. I'll just try not to think about it.

2 minutes later.

"Okay if you cant find someone to come over or whatever I will come over and hold down the fort. I'm really scared for you especially with ur track record with your friends"

"lol I can't ask you to come over im just gonna die I think..I just saw three more"

"Your friends being the spiders that is"

"I said i will as a last resort and your not going to die. We haven't finished up Nip/tuck yet"

"What should I do?"

"I dunno. If you need me to I will come over I don't want you to break out in hives or have a panic attack or something"

"You don't have to but Id literally give you my life if you did"

"Okay I'll be there in a bit"

"I'm a bad friend, I'm sorry"

"Shut up no your not"

"No it's cool but come in the front door they've got the back barricaded"

"I didn't shave my legs today, if you give me sh*t I'm going home I swear"

That's my friend. A friend who stayed up till 4 am on a week night, to do the job my husband couldn't do because he was out of town. The friend who wont be mad I stole these pictures from her camera. Or be embarrassed because I told you she wore shorts didn't shave her legs...in days.

:)

I'm very lucky to have a pal like you Noelle!

Oh, and we ended up killing 13 spiders in my kitchen that night, yes 13. Griffin came the next day. Best 400.00 I've ever spent.

The ants go marching...

Gettin' ready for the party. Here's a teaser. Enjoy!

Fathers Day

Father's Day was this past Sunday, and considering my dear father was busy moving into his lake house (lucky) I didn't get a chance to see him. So, he's yet to see this...

Gorgeous frame- Check

Picture from my wedding day- Check

Lyrics to our father/daughter dance song- Check

Oh, I almost forgot, crappy camera- Double Check!

As for my Mr. Fabuloso, we had a lovely day enjoying the sun! I'm sooo not even showing you my experience on the slip n' slide. Let me tell you this though, I was deprived as a child and didn't get the privilege of owning or even going on someone else's slip n' slide. I didn't exactly get the whole, slide part down. I more or less just closed my eyes and jumped at the ground.

It didn't feel good, I'll have you know. It didn't. feel. good.

Still not sure what the whole appeal is.

To each their own.

Spring Cleaning

Or summer cleaning, I should say! It's about 600 or so degrees up here in the mitten, give or take. Last weekend I slaved in the semi-rain during our neighborhood garage sale. It gave me just enough motivation to tackle the monstrosity that is LB1's closet.

I was too embarrassed to take any before pictures, sorry. But, I took plenty of afters and they're GORG.All the winter clothes are packed away *yay* and everything else is organized by color. Love that. I also just tried a new thing- and put her pants in the closet rather than the dresser, leaving room for her pj's and such. I like it so far. We'll see.

She's in the big room as I've said before so she has the biggest closet. Get ready to laugh. Big closet around here is about 3'x2'. But it's got some nice built ins and the ghost's closet door, um...we'll talk about that later.Some 5.99 cloth bins from target and she's got a spot for her aqua doodles, baby stuff, play food and blocks. The small baskets that are under the clothes were from Easter. They sell them at the dollar store though, I love them! They come in a ton of colors too! Perfect for those little barbie pieces and Polly pockets. Or legos, if that's how you roll.

LB1 is pretty good at collecting things, lately it's baskets. This is only half of them.
Maybe this week the itty bitty love bugs room will be done. Wish me luck!

House hunting

The bad thing about having decorators ADD? When that DADD makes you want a brand new house, oh about every other year. Today I went open housing, it's an amazing hobby of mine. Sundays are GREAT to find a few lovelies!
Today however, I hit the JACKPOT! It's actually only 4 blocks down from my house, same street. It's a beaut. Only 1 bathroom though. Bummer. But I'd gladly trade them- even steven. Right now I'm loathing my house. Don't ask.

On another lovely note- three weeks till LB1 turns 4! I'm planning her party as we speak. It's going to be adorable! Just you wait!
I'll give you a hint.... PB&J... and fireworks.... Maybe a hot dog or two. But, don't tell the Mom police! :)

Old school photoshop.

Word.





Ha, so I took a lovely picture of the not so lovely outside of my house. Sure, it's okay- for the area it's about a 6. We put the flowers down last year, and the plants are already double the size (yay) I wanted some that would get BIG BIG BIG, just because our foundation is so high up- ewwww.


We have the metaly, swirly (old, ugly) er...dated pillars. So ugly. I want glorious beautiful columns. But, for cost effectiveness I'm sure we'll just cover these up with some wood and trim.


Whoever lived here before painted the cement steps. Hm..yeah, I know huh? Outside steps= elements, rain, snow, snow and more snow. So, it chips. Let me tell you how annoying it is to bust out the door barefoot, running after your dog who's chasing another dog because his brain is the size of a pea (literally) and you have to keep stopping to peel the paint chips off your feet.





Very annoying.





So we'll have to fix THAT.





And, of course. The siding. Oh, the siding. Dingy icky white and chipped. That's all I'll say about that.





We moved into this fixer upper knowing all well what it was. I have faith in this little lady, I really do! So, I used my awesome computer skill(z) and this really techy thing called "Paint" and painted my dream for Miss. 2110.

Um, yes I know. I'm really good at what I do. :) Like I said, it's the skill(z).

Right, the house. Onward.

Oh, those awkward T's are solar lights. obviously Snort. I want a pretty steal blue color with some white trim and more flowers. Stupid me saved this as my main picture and I lost the original. We're having a monsoon season right now so I can't go back outside to take another but.. From my description I think you get it. Think ugly- there you got it.

Any other ideas.. Comments?

Or, if you have a brilliant way I can just get this done while Mr. P is away at work and he doesn't notice there was a breach in the spending freeze agreement..I'd like to hear those too! :) Smile!

7 down, 2 to go!

I'm trying to stop. But it's addicting!

First twilight, now this.

*Sigh*

I went to the devils playground Target and they were on sale for 5.99 a piece. Oh, yeah this was before the "Rachelle, don't you dare spend one more dime on- anything, not NECESSARY"

Define necessary.

Oh, yeah. So I love them. Maybe it's the vampires I love? Weird? I don't know but all I know is I've spent the last two weeks reading 7 books. The second season opener starts on the 14th.

With Tudors done, sadly... I have to move on.

But, no worries! I have some delicious things to show you this week! All freebies that I finally got to!

I'll give you a hint. It's black, messy and my husband hates it!

&

LB1s birthday is in less than a month. So, I'm frugally planning that. I'll show you my step by step favors that are going to be given away.

&

A serving tray...transformed!

Schools out-- for the summer!

So, as you all know Lovebug #1 had her first year of preschool this year! It was a blast, she loved it. I loved it. I loved her teacher. She loved her too.

So naturally I had to make her something uber cute for her last day. I'd seen this on Tip Junkie before and I fell in love! I thought it was PERFECT for a preschool teacher obviously because they use crayons 99.9% of the day. (When they aren't playing with playdo, which I've come to realize takes up a lot of the princess' hectic day :) )

You can tell by the picture it's pretty self explanatory but- I'll tell you how I created it anyways. I got some heavy duty card stock, and a cheap-o document frame from Meijer. We have crayons all over the place but I did manage to buy a new pack so she could have some pretty new ones. Nice and Sharp!

Then I cut them in half with my cutco knife. I tried cutting them with scissors and well it about took my eye out when it flung at me! If your going to cut it though, you don't have to use a cutco, but I love those knives. Gotta give props!

Oh, right the project.

So I sawed, and cut and sawed and cut. Put them to the paper arranged to my liking. And drew her last name on the bottom. I have really bad handwriting. If I were going to do it again, I'd use a font online. But- trial and error, eh?

Actually the more I look at it the more embarrassed I am.

I might take a penmanship class.

Anywho, that was my pretty I thought I'd share. Since the Disney trip took a HUGE chunk of change from me. Mr. P says I can't spend anymore money this month. BOO! I'm thisclose to finishing my living room. Remember my lamps? Yep those plus new curtains, accessories.. and pizazzz. I just need a couple finishers. Just you wait! :)

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Coming soon!

About Me

Ello!

New around these parts?

Well there's a few things you might like to know about me and this little place in the internet world that I call home

My life is far from perfect. 

But, it's getting better. 

Our story is definitely not over.

 

:) 

I'm learning to have a little more grace.

And to let go of control, not that I ever had it in the first place ;)

I have three lovely faces that I get to look at every day and I couldn't be happier about that. 

Especially when things could be very different.

:)

I like cozy homes.

With delicious smells.

Lots of pillows, and a few throws.

I like easy decorating, something that my kids wont be scared to mess up.

I believe you don't need a gigantic house to have a beautiful home.

 

I like to laugh. Sometimes I cuss. I'll rock a white couch and maybe a pink wig.

 

 

Because you only live once. Don't be afraid to LIVE 

Just live.

 

 

Live and Love.