My Jobs

Lately I have felt like I am adding more and more to my plate. I cant even imagine if I had to actually "GO" to work each day! I have always said that being a stay at home mom is a TOUGH and under appreciated job. But now, nearly 4 years into it, I have learned that being a working mom just doesn't seem possible! I have the utmost respect for all the moms (and dads) who are able to hold down a job outside the home, as well as raise their children, I know I couldn't do it! Recently I have felt like having a job outside the home would be "easier". Over the past 4 years, I have successfully added many titles to my name including:

1. Mommy cook
2. Mommy plumber
3. Mommy electrician
4. Mommy carpenter
5. Mommy doctor
6. Mommy chauffeur
7. Mommy maid

1. I haven't been performing this one to the best of my ability as of late, and I really don't have a good excuse for that. I do hope that I get out of my self proclaimed "cooking funk" and start preparing some proper/nutritious meals.

2. I never imagined myself as a plumber. But after the bathtub repair, and the dishwasher installation, I added this title to my name.

3. This came from installing the dishwasher too. Did you know that a dishwasher doesn't come with a plug? You have to manually connect the black, white, and green wires and secure them with wire nuts........CRAZY! Im just glad I got them all right on the 1st try!

4. This is due to my work upstairs as well as the microwave installation which required a bit of "tweaking". Upstairs has been a bit of a fiasco. First we missed the studs when attempting to attach the green board to the ceiling. I had to climb up into the tiny attic crawl space (no less than 15 times) above the playroom ceiling and attach 2x4's to each of the studs so that we would be able to get the board attached and cover up all the holes we had made in the ceiling. It was quite a feat!

5. The girls have been under the weather lately. I have been dealing with, coughs, colds, fever, sniffles, etc. And since I made the decision over a year ago to completely cut out all unnecessary meds for the girls, I have been dealing with the sickness with my good old fashion home remedies. The sock treatments have come in REAL handy, and have worked like a charm again. Kaylee was able to kick her cold in a matter of days and is doing just fine. Ainslee has been a bit different. Hers didn't get quite as bas as Kaylee's, as in she never got the 103* fever, but hers has lasted longer. And i know that this is because I was unable to do all her treatments at the beginning of her "sickness". She spent the night with my parents, and therefore missed 3 treatments in a row. Anyways, we are back on track now and she seems to be doing much better.

6. I feel like the chauffeuring has begun already! Play date here, play date there, Kindermusik, school, story time, gymnastics........we log lots of time in our car! Oh and have i mentioned we are still driving around in the Jetta. My car has yet to be out of the shop for more than a week since like November 20th. It has been a crazy ride, but hopefully we will be transferring all our "stuff" back into it soon. I will say that this car switching business has definitely saved us a buck or two in gas.

7. I am seriously beginning to wonder why I even fold laundry. Also I am throwing around ideas in my head of self cleaning floors (not really but the idea sound AMAZING!). I feel like my work is never done!

I'm sure that there are many more "titles" i have collected over the years, but along with the notoriety comes a price.........my memory. HA! I cant remember a darn thing anymore!

Kitchen Makeover - part 2

A few days after I finished the microwave the dishwasher sitting in the dining room began making me antsy again. I read up on the installation process and it didn't seem too difficult, so I began prepping it for installation and uninstalling the old one. I cant remember what part i got stuck on, but i had to go wake Marcus up again! I really wanted to just have it all installed before he woke up, but I just couldn't juggle it all. So Marcus came out and helped me for about 45 minutes or so, and then after he left for work I completed the installation.

we haven't peeled off the protective plastic yet, and if you lived with 2 Tasmanian devils you wouldn't either. LOL We are just trying to protect it as long as we can.

The inside is so much bigger than our old one! The top shelf raises and lowers to accomodate different size dishes. It has the plain front, with the buttons hiden on the top, it has many more options than the old one too. I love it!

And here's the big one! We had to call in the "big guns" to help us get this one through the door. Long time family friend of Marcus's mom, who happens to be a retired GE employee, so he knows a thing or 2 about appliances. He graciously came and helped. He removed both the fridge doors, as well as the freezer drawer. This not only lightened the load, but also made it possible to get it through the door. And in a matter of 90 minutes we had this big ole beast resting snuggly in our kitchen.

I am more than thrilled with the new appliances. They are all MUCH bigger than the old ones. I cant believe all the space the new fridge has to offer. The only downside I have found so far, is the ice machine. It doesnt seem to be keeping up with our demand. Hopefully we can figure something out to remedy this.

The bottom drawer is yet to be filled. I just need to get off my butt and transfer all the food. Then we can get the old one out of the kitchen

I did a little research on the cost of these appliances. I went with the "middle of the road" pricing and found that we saved $1300 bucks! PLUS we have already sold our dishwasher and microwave, which has helped. We are currently trying to decide what we are going to do with our old fridge (which is in perfect working condition!). I have had one person already express an interest, but no concrete deal is in place as of yet.

I am still in awe of how this deal landed in our lap, and I am so thankful! I cant believe Christmas is just around the corner

Kitchen Makeover - part 1

You gotta listen to this......................

remember this post? My parents were in the market for a new oven after theirs blew up on Turkey Day. I was at their house one day when mom called and told me that they had picked a new oven. She also informed me that the place they were purchasing the oven from was offering a deal "Buy 2 Get 2". So Buy 2 appliances and get 2 appliances. I immediately got curious about this, especially since our dishwasher has been acting up lately. Mom wasnt sure about the details of the deal. So after a few more phone calls, I finally learned that if you bought a refrigerator and cooking appliance (ie oven, cooktop) you get a dishwasher and microwave for "free". So i figured if we could go in on the deal with my parents, I mean they were already buying the oven so all we needed to buy was the fridge and we would get 2 for free. I was getting more and more excited, mom asked me to come up to the store and check out the appliances for myself. I loaded the girls up and headed on over there.

When I first saw them I could imagine them in our kitchen. I read the "fine print" of the B2G2 offer. Then the bomb was dropped on me. The worker told us that the deal ended the day before. He said he couldnt honor the B2G2 anymore. I was angry, the paperwork said the deal would be on for another WEEK! All I could think was false advertisement! So I told the man about the date on the paperwork, and in his very poor English he said that there was nothing he could do and I needed to take up my concerns with his boss, and he kindly gave us her number. My dad called her immediately. She explained the reason behind the misprint and told him that she would do all that she could to try and honor the advertisement. I took my dad inside to show him the paperwork I was reading with the dates of the offer, and they were gone. The worker (who was really getting on my nerves at this point!) had thrown them away!

We decided to just leave and I settled into the idea that we missed out on the deal. About an hour later, my dad hears back from the "boss lady". She explained that the misprint on the paperwork was because of the Frigidaire Rep. He sent out the advertisement with the wrong date, and instead of reprinting them, he just sent an email stating the correct dates for the offer. So the last day of the B2G2 deal was THE DAY BEFORE! We missed it by one day! So my dad, being the salesman he is encouraged her to contact her sales rep and asked for an extension of the deal since it was his mistake to begin with. She was more than happy to do so, and about 20 minutes later we got the call saying that if we bought the fridge in the next hour she could honor the deal. YIPPEE Skippy!

I woke Marcus up to tell him what was going on, actually I had already woken him up earlier to go and measure all current appliances, to make sure these would fit. And after measuring I found that they all would be a perfect fit!

So we paid for the appliances, and the worker, who was quickly becoming more irritated with me, started loading them up in my dads truck. We decided to take the dishwasher and microwave, and leave the fridge there to pick up a different day. As he was checking the receipt printout, he noticed the numbers didnt match up on the microwave I thought we had purchased (the one that he told us was included in the deal). When I asked to see the micro that was, in fact, part of the deal, I was led back to a completely different area and shown a micro that was 1/2 the size and did not have nearly as many options. Once again we complained! We had to get BACK on the phone with the boss lady, whom at this point just wanted to seal the deal, so she agreed to let us have the bigger microwave instead of the other one. YIPPEE Skippy again! So off we went with 2 of the appliances.

We got the 2 appliances home and they just sat there. In case you all don't know this time of year is the BUSIEST time for FedEx which means we basically don't get to see Marcus......EVER! So I got antsy, as I do when I want something done. So i decided to just do it myself. And here's how I did it......

Marcus and I got a date night at one of our favorite restaurants, Flemings. We went with a couple friend of ours Chris and Rachel. We met at their house for drinks and then loaded up and drove the 5 miles to the restaurant (what I wouldn't give to live CLOSE to civilization!). We had a marvelous time! We had a $50 GC that we purchased for $40 at Costco, and we had a $25 "dining credit". So we had $75 worth of food to eat before we had any out of pocket expense for the night. I was confident we would be able to keep our meal under or at least close to the $75 mark. But Chris and Rachel had a different idea. They immediately ordered a bottle of wine for the table and insisted on appetizers, actually TWO appetizers. I began to get a bit nervous, but decided to just enjoy the evening. We both decided to go with the surf and turf as the entree and each couple shared. We split three sides between the 4 of us and it was plenty of food. The bill totalled like $275 and Chris picked up the rest of our tab. So basically we got an fantastical meal and evening for 40 bucks.......cant beat that! So my mom babysat for us at our house while we were out, and she just spent the night. The next morning is when I got really antsy about the microwave. I decided to just start the installation process myself. I began unpacking said appliance and removing the old one. Then I realized I would need a few more hands (and muscles). Mom and i had the old microwave completely unattached, but we couldn't lift it enough to get it off of the mounting bracket. I quickly ran to wake up Marcus as mom held the micro in place, and he came out in his boxers to lift it out for us. He questioned what I was doing and then went back to bed. I finished prepping the rest of the area for the new, bigger micro, and when he really woke up he helped me install it. Basically he just did the heavy lifting. I did the measuring, drilling, figuring, planning, and basically everything else. Here is the finished product.....

and the inside, which is much bigger than the old one, it comes with a shelf, but it is recommended that you only put the shelf inside when you are using it

This post seems to be getting longer and longer, I will have to continue it another day........stay tuned

Project Playroom - part 4

The playroom is nearing completion, well at least what I have planned so far! I have many other things I still want to accomplish up there, the next biggest thing I want to work on is the walls. I have a few things in mind for the reading area, but we have a LOT of blank wall space that needs to be decorated. Oh and I am DYING for some storage up there, anyone want to build me a large wall mounted cubby/bookcase? Anybody? Anybody?


Here are some more of the pictures I took process.....

the mirror is on the left painted purple, and the green board is on the right, which will be attached to the ceiling. Each of these pieces took 3 coats of paint.


We decided to paint the frame of the little door purple too.........i really like it!

here it is with the mirror

the GREEN board

the rope ladder

the rings

I'm trying to figure out how we are going to get good shots on Christmas morning when the girls see the playroom for the first time in 6 weeks! Should I set up the camera on a timer? Should I "hide" behind the camera? Either way I hope to get some good shots, and if so I will share them with you sometime next week.

What's for dinner?

Since this post, I have had trouble finding the desire to cook. We have been eating out WAY too much, throwing random food together at the last minute, or just snacking. I have made a few meals, including the ones that I referred to in that last post about meals. Actually I made them probably 2 (or more) weeks ago, just never got around to posting about them. In between the meals I am about to critic I threw in 2 batches of our new favorite meal, so you cant really say that we are STARVING to death, but i could do a much better job at preparing a proper meal!

So here goes:

Chicken Piccata with peas

This dish was OK. That's about as good as I can give it. I'm sure it has the potential to be really good, but my version wasn't that great. Too much lemon was probably the culprit, I don't think I will be making it again anytime soon.

Beef with snow peas served with coconut rice

This one was AH-maze-ing! Well except for the coconut rice, and I didn't cook the snow peas long enough. Actually I substituted sugar snap peas for the snow peas, and I didn't cook the SUGAR SNAP peas long enough! But the beef in this dish made up for everything else that went wrong. I will definitely be making this one again........and so should you! YUM!

Sea Bass with risotto and salad

This would own a place in the weekly menu if I didn't have to sell my car to pay for the sea bass!
Is Halibut cheaper? If so I might try it with that fish, as suggested by PW. It was just so tasty all around! Kaylee really liked it too, I just wish I couldve afforded a bigger piece, we all would've been much happier! The risotto makes a great side dish for almost any meal, and I can make a KILLER salad, so that meal was top notch in my book! And it was fairly sinple to make too.

Chicken Parmigiana with broccoli

I was totally supposed to make this dish and I just never did. So I cant say much except that it sounds good! I will let you know when we try it and what we think.

Pioneer Woman you did it again!

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We had our annual Christmas brunch with some of the closest family friends. It is held at a different family's house each year, and everyone brings a dish. Usually MOST of the dishes are breakfasty casseroles, most of which I cant eat. This year I decided to take a break from the traditional and I made the bacon wrap jalapeno thingys. And they were a huge hit! Try taking them to your next pot luck!

Boy oh Boy ---- NOOOOOOO GIRL!!

We, as in Ainslee and I, were in Kohl's the other day, when a lady noticed Ainslee babbling away in the cart. She looked down at her and said "He is so pretty, just look at him." I just smiled, sometimes it just isnt worth correcting them. Then she said "Oh I didnt mean pretty, handsome is a better word, sorry." I just dont know what to say, I should have figured it out by now considering this is honestly the 30+ time she has been referred to as a boy! Any ideas on what to say?

Is this the face of a boy?

This is exactly what she was wearing! Pigtails, silver necklace and all! What about her screams I'M A BOY?!?

ignore the messiness in the background, and I realize this isnt the greatest of pictures, I took it with my phone

Educate Me

Each night we complete our bedtime routines with the girls. I told you about Ainslee's the other day, but now let me tell you a little bit about Kaylee's. It used to be 2 books, sing 2 songs, and tuck in tight. Now almost every night she chooses to play "games" on the iPad instead of reading books. Now before you go off and judge me, let me explain. First of all they are mostly educational games. And the ones that are just "games" are still teaching her things: taking turns, following directions, cooperation, hand/eye coordination, communication, and most importantly learning the hard lesson that you dont ALWAYS win! Playing games, even if they are of the electronic variety, is an invaluable learning experience. Now dont get me wrong, she doesnt play the iPad or other electronic games all day, she usually only gets to play before nap and bedtime.

Last night we were playing one of her favorite games called "Little Things". It is basically a Where's Waldo, with little things. There are different pictures and you have to find specific things hidden within those pictures. I have to say Kaylee is pretty darn good at the game! She is very perceptive and aware of her surroundings so it is no surprise that this game comes easy for her. I have to say that I am pretty good myself, when I can figure out what they are asking me to find. Here are some examples of the confusing ones: dollar, I would assume they meant a dollar bill, but they meant a dollar sign as in $. Mortar and Pestle, I just had NO IDEA what this one was! I had to use a hint to find it. Music player, that's an iPod! Why didnt they just say iPod? Tablet, whats the 1st thing that comes to mind when you hear that word? Now I know all the Irish will get this one correct, but over here I would say most people would think of a tablet of paper. When they said tablet, they were referring to a pill. These are just some of the things that have kept the game interesting and me on my toes. Here are a couple snapshots of the game I am talking about...


This part i am about to tell you is the whole reason why I decided to write this post to begin with.

How I know my daughter is part Mexican......last night we were playing the game and in the list of things to find was the word "chilli". (that is not a typo, that is how the word was spelled in the game) I was confused by this, was it someone who was chilly? Was it a bowl of chili? After thinking to myself and looking around the at the pictures for a few seconds, Kaylee says "There it is mommy! I found the chili!" And she points to a chili pepper! She was right, they were looking for a chili pepper, so why in the heck couldnt they have said, chili pepper? My little Mexican could spot a chili pepper from a mile away! I love that little girl!

Wordless Wednesday

Project Playroom - part 3

It has been 3 1/2 weeks since the girls have been allowed in the playroom. They dont even ask to go up there anymore! I havent been getting as much done up there as I would like, but I cant complain........at least something is getting done.

I think it was like 2 weekends ago I shop vac'd both attic spaces. Marcus helped me hang a few more drywall boards which makes the attic spaces look much better, and got the dry wall pieces out of our way.

Over the past week or so I have been busy....

here are the colors (the picture really doesnt show the actual colors, and me taking them at night without natural light doesnt help)

once again my photo skills are lacking (to say the least). This is a shot of the board that, well I cant tell you exactly where it is going, you can hardly tell but it has a 60* angle on each end of the board. The dark side (bottom of the picture) of the board will be bottom when it is hung.

and the board lengthwise, you can sorta see the angled edge at the bottom of the picture

here are the supplies for one of the projects I completed tonight

I have to tell you how I came to the idea of the next project. First of all my good friend Bethany had the idea of painting a trim around the white board. When I proposed the idea to Marcus he suggested just putting trim boards up, to define the space more. I decided those were fabulous ideas, so I implemented them. First I visited our local (NOT local to where we live, but local to where I am much of the week, AKA 30 minute drive) hardware store. I picked out my trim board, found the first worker man who was available to cut it. Wasnt quite sure if I was getting what I needed because he didnt really know how to operate or read a tape measure. Anyways I got through that process which took about 30 minutes longer than it should. I took the trim boards over to my uncle Tom's house, not my real Uncle Tom, but a very long time family friend whom I refer to as Uncle Tom. Anyways, Uncle Tom has a huge REALLY HUGE workshop/garage thingy. He has every tool known to man, and he is retired. Which means he is available basically all the time, so I gave him a quick call and I stopped by. We were out in the garage getting the boards cut, while Aunt Carol was in the house entertaining Kaylee. He also let me borrow the tool that is sort of leaning against the hammer in the picture above. He sent me home with the cut trim, nails to attach the trim board, and tips for attaching said boards. He is so AWESOME!

Here is the finished product

ignore all my supplies that are still on top of the bookcase........I will get a proper picture once the room is complete

And now for that curtain rod we hung from the ceiling......it is going to be used as a divider for the girls' dressing room. I found this sheer purple fabric with glittery sparkles on it, it goes wonderfully with the green. Eventually a mirror will go on the green door, and their box of dressup clothes will be next to the door. I love how the fabric defines the space, but doesnt feel like it closes off the room, I can pin the fabric up high or take it down completely whenever I choose. If I find it doesnt work my backup plan is hanging the girls' artwork from the curtain rod

Can you imagine that Santa has already visited our house? Growing up we did "Santa" different from all my friends. We always celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve, which was/is nice for many reasons. We always got our stuff one day early, and now as we build our own family and family traditions, we can use that day with my family and Christmas morning with our own family and Christmas afternoon/evening with Marcus' family. It has worked well for us so far. Soooooo we would always go to mass on Christmas Eve and while we were gone Santa would deliver ONE gift for each of us. Actually some years mom and dad had a friend dress up as Santa and come to the house to deliver the gifts. So our ONE gift from Santa was usually our "big" gift. I like the idea of getting things from Santa but I definitely dont think that everything should be from Santa. I think this is one tradition we will carry on with the girls. They will get one gift from "him" and the others will be from us. After saying all that........here is what Santa brought this year. I just put it together the other day, and I can NOT wait for the girls to see it! Kaylee has pretty much asked to paint or do a "project" everyday for the past month or so. I am sure this easel will provide many hours of enjoyment for both of them.

That's it so far. We still have about 21 small projects to complete before the big reveal Christmas morning, I have a short 18 more days to finish. But it is coming together nicely.........so stay tuned