Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Changing the Boys Rooms

So, it was the day of a realtor showing of our house and I decided it was a great time to switch the boys rooms...by myself. Call me a little crazy as you can't just move a crib through a door way and my oldest has heavy furniture (he is a climber). BUT I got it done in only 2 hours and I think both rooms look bigger now.  (The sun was really bright that day so there is a bit of a glare, I got it down a bit in PSE8 but I am still learning that program.)

Before - big room with lots of windows but filled with too much furniture. We couldn't set the bed up any where else as the headboard was 1 inch too wide.


(Forgot to take a picture before I already was taking apart the bed.)

After - looks huge even with the rocking chair.



(This picture is closer to the color of the room.)

Before - spacious room but cribs are small.

(Rocking chair is usually in the corner beside the crib.)

After - you can see that there is still lots of room and the dresser could fit in the huge closet to make even more room for toys. (But W can't have toys in his room right now as he won't go to sleep!).



I do hope to eventually do each boys room in a theme, probably trains for Munchkin 1 and planes for Munchkin 2 but that will have to wait until we move.  I must really scale back the size of furniture that I like...it takes up lots of space in the rooms.  I also see that I am drawn to dark furniture, if I was to add our bedroom furniture to these you would see a theme - big and dark.  :)


Monday, September 26, 2011

Meal Plan Monday

Here is week 38 for meal plan Monday -


Plan is pretty simple this week (well, simple if you like to bake, hehe), here is how I plan to achieve it -

Monday supper I plan to throw a few extra potatoes in the oven with the chicken for the double baked potatoes Wednesday.  I also plan to make the PB&J cookies with my kids that afternoon.

Tuesday morning marinate the salmon for supper and I plan to make some delicious cupcakes that I have been wanting to make for awhile (I am going to be playing cupcake fairy this week).  ;-)

Wednesday morning marinate the pork chops, bake the muffins and start the soup.

Thursday afternoon make the jello with my oldest (while the youngest sleeps).

Enjoy!





Wednesday, September 21, 2011

FALL!!!

Ok, I am probably one of the only people like this out there but I LOVE fall.  I am not a 30 C kind of person and hate to feel hot and sweaty...I don't even like hot tubs for the same reason.  My husband and I got married in the fall (with the colors orange, yellow and red) and I love all the colors - it is when I always get family pictures done.  :)

Some inspiring pictures of fall in Canada -


 I LOVE LOVE LOVE the mountains...I know that we are very lucky to live just a few hours away from them.


This picture has been a favorite of mine for I don't know how long.


More mountians  :)


I hope that everyone has a great fall and enjoys the crisp fresh air!  Soon it will be winter (a month I also enjoy as long as it stays above -15 C) and everyone will be more house bound.

Monday, September 19, 2011

Meal Plan Monday - Week 37

This is a short week for me and it is just the boys and I...so I have a fairly simple menu plan this week.  Plus we aren't home for a few days so I didn't bother planning those meals.   :)


The Peanut Butter french toast is so simple and easy...and kids love it!  Basically make peanut butter sandwiches and dip in egg/milk mixture and fry up like normal french toast, kids love it!  I made up the strawberry sauce last week and it is really good.  I cut up some ripe strawberries, put them in a pot with some brown sugar and heat up...then just puree, yummy!  So of the other recipes are first times for me, if they are good and easy then they will make the regular rotation.

(Oh, the rainbow chips and dip are just roasted vege's and ranch dip...hoping that the kiddo's like them for a nice and healthy snack.)

Enjoy!

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is a recipe I have been working on for a bit now. I do a lot of baking but rarely my own recipes but I have been figuring out more and more how much elevation affects baking...it can make food hard and heavy due to different flour amounts or cooking times and temperatures.

So on my quest of finding a somewhat healthier cookie to eat I have figured out these cookies. (They would be even healthier if you used raisins and a pinch of cinnamon but I am a choco-holic).



Oatmeal Cookies

3/4 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar (slightly packed)
2 eggs
1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
3 cups quick cook oatmeal
1 cup chocolate chips (or raisins and a pinch of cinnamon)

Preheat oven to 375F.

Mix butter and sugar until fluffy, add eggs and mix slowly until combined. Add flour and baking soda and mix until well combined. Hand mix in oatmeal and chocolate chips.

Using a cookie scoop (or teaspoon) drop the cookie dough on the pan and flatten slightly (they are thick cookies from all the oatmeal). Bake for 8-10 minutes...I found mine were done in 9 minutes and were still slightly soft.

Now try immediately out of the oven, heaven! Dare you to eat just one - my excuse is that they are small(er than coffee shop cookies).   :)

Monday, September 12, 2011

Meal Plan Monday - Week 36

Below is the first weekly plan I have done up (Yes, it says 35 but is supposed to be 36...oops!).  Generally the food is very child friendly and there is opportunity to make extra's one day to have on another day to cut down the cooking you do.  It may be easier to use this plan for next week so you can do your shopping on the weekend but however you use it is up to you.



So my general plan is to -

Sunday - boil a dozen eggs (about 2 1/2 minutes for a nicely boiled egg), and make jello
Monday - Marinate the chicken in the morning, making extra for soup Tuesday, & pizza
                Wednesday.
                Make some popsicles (or freeze yogurt tubes for a quick and healthy snack).
Tuesday - Make oatmeal cookies, great to do with kids (I will share this recipe with you this
                week)
                Make extra potatoes for the double baked ones Friday, throw in the oven with the
                meatballs.
Wednesday - Save some pizza dough to make pizza twists for a snack the next day.
Thursday - Marinate flank steak in morning
Friday - Marinate pork chops in the morning.  Make more cookies or have oatmeal cookies.
Saturday - The Wee Granola is from the Weelicious website and I alter it to have hardly any
                nuts in it as my husband is allergic to most.  This can be made anytime and
               stored for a couple of weeks in a air tight container.
Sunday - I plan to make extra Yams to use for making muffins to freeze for future breakfasts.

Also in the plan this week is to make extra pizza dough to make pizza balls to freeze for quick snacks and lunches.  I am just building up my freeze stores so this first few weeks will have lots of baking and freezing but then it should only be an item a week after a bit of building up.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

9/11 - We must never forget

I remember waking up in the morning to an odd newscast, it was too hard to believe. Then watching it on TV, it was still unbelievable. I went to my class at the wondering who could do such a terrible thing, it was all that was talked about during the lecture.

Then to leave the lecture and hear the Pentagon was hit and Towers had fallen - unbelievable. I cried even though I have no friends or family there. It is a day I will never forget.

Please remember.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Kick Off

So, I've been wanting to do this for a long time and decided to finally bite the bullet and do it. As you can see from the title bar, I have a lot planned but some will come slowly and I haven't actually figured out how to place posts under those but I'm sure it will come. ':)

So my plans -

Menu Plan Monday - this is to force me to plan weekly meals, which will include all meals and snacks. This is to save me time, my family money and I am trying to give my boys less processed foods in hopes it slows the hyperness down a lot bit!

Cooking - mostly baking (I LOVE to bake, everything and anything) but I want to experiment more with cooking.

Gardening - I want to do a garden next year and I am a BIG plan aheader (I think that is the engineer in me, and yes that is a real word...I think LOL) so I will be sharing things I come up with from planting pairs to soils.

Crafts - mostly kids (I am a work from home mommy of 2 little boys that will need entertaining for the winter) but I have some grown up ideas as well. :D

Sewing - I have some tutorials that I will share and I have some themes that I plan to build around using some sewing projects. I'll always try to show you how to do it but I also hope to open an Esty Store soon so you can choose to just buy what I make as well. ;-)

I will throw in some other projects from around the house...I am NOT a decorator but an experimenter (don't forget I am an Engineer turned WAH mommy...we aren't known for our creativity - engineers that is)

So I hope you enjoy, come back often, share (but make sure you give me credit) and leave me comments both good and constructive as I am just starting up and open to all ideas.

Take care and (as my hubby is always saying and I don't have a catch phrase) have a safe day. :-)