Cluttered Table

January 26, 2012 By 4 Comments

Moments of stupidity often lead to moments of genius.

(At least that is the excuse I’m giving myself to explain the mess that is on my kitchen table at the moment.)

Work is wonderfully busy at the moment. Yup, you read that right, wonderfully busy. I’m grateful for the job so the busy is even more of a bonus in that it means I am needed! However, it’s also leading to me not getting home before 6:30 on average so dinner often becomes a game of “eh I don’t care if we eat cereal” during our “What do you want?” times.

Last night though, I had a plan! We’d have spaghetti and sauce and biscuits!

Alex popped the water on to boil and we were going to just kill some time by emptying our cabinets of some extra pots and pans. Only, at that point I noticed that the water was boiling and went to get out the spaghetti.

We had NONE! (This beats all as this is a pantry staple.)

So while we waited for the now really hot pot to cool, we moved on to the glasses. But once we did that coffee mugs needed organizing.

And hey, now that our cabinets are organized we should totally reorganize our countertops.

Suddenly, before you knew it, we had no dinner and our kitchen table was a jumble of excess cups, pots, mugs, and more!

All thanks to a lack of pasta. I wonder what dinner will bring tonight?!

Filed Under: Marriage Adventures, Our House Tagged With: ,

Saturday Straightening

January 16, 2012 By 6 Comments

What a difference a day makes! Saturday Alex and I spent almost the entire day cleaning our house. It’s needed it so bad lately, but well with me working from home on the weekends and him at a physically demanding job housework was beyond last on our list.

So we finally broke down this weekend and cleaned. I was lucky and got to clean the inside. Alex put the decorations from Christmas back in the attic and then cleaned the garage.

Well after he put a hole in our ceiling he cleaned. Like the new attic skylight? Sighs. Home ownership is full of little surprises.

High note is we have a highly organized garage! (This is key to a happy husband.)

While he was outside making skylights, I was inside cleaning our house. Well I was inside picking items from our living room, dining room, and kitchen and placing those items in our bedroom, guest room, and office for review. The main living room areas look great! The office? Not so much.

(Why yes. I did luck out in this. I’m no fool!)

As you might have guessed the office is more often than not our “dump room.” Do you have a “dump” space in your house? How often do you clean it?

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Merry Exploded Up in Here

December 5, 2011 By 9 Comments

Alex and I have been discussing how very little it feels like Christmas to us. I am honestly not sure what it is that is leading to the feeling, but there you have it. We yanked out all of our Christmas decorations and then just let them sit in boxes.

(There are TWO Christmas tree boxes in that photo. Yes y’all, we have TWO trees.) Y’all we have retarded amounts of Christmas decor. Does anyone else have this problem?

Anyway, so this weekend we decided to yank out all of the decorations and you know, DO SOMETHING with them.

We decorated our fireplace mantel and lit a fire while the rest of the space was decorated. 

I was able to set our little Nativity on the table we had to move in order to fit our Christmas tree.

Lastly, I set up our Christmas tree. (You notice I said “I set up”…)

I set up the tree because Alex and his friend were hanging out at our place watching Indiana Jones movies. LOTS of Indiana Jones movies. I do not like Indiana enough to tolerate 7 hours of movies, yet this is what happened at our house.

Ain’t ya jealous?

What Christmas decor do you have set up?

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From House to Home

November 25, 2011 By 6 Comments

Alex and I went out to Japanese for dinner last night. It’s a rare treat and since the layoff even rarer, but we really just wanted to get out before Alex lost his mind from being house-bound. Once out we stopped by the local Home Depot.

See, Alex being stuck at home has a ton of energy. Energy he plans to pour into painting our bathrooms and our base boards. Me? I have no problem with this since we’ve lived in the house almost 2 years now and they STILL are gray.

We each picked a bathroom color. The hall bath is getting a “Stormy Gray” to go with the seashells and sand we’ve collected from various beaches.

The Master bath is getting a creamy yellow to compliment the green bedroom.

Eventually (read: after Alex is able to get a job) we’ll replace the shower curtain in here with a cream, yellow, and green country plaid pattern.  Something along these lines is what I’m thinking.

Alex has also really stepped up and taken care of the gray trim. The horrible, everywhere you look gray trim. See it’s now becoming a pretty, neutral, white high-gloss trim. It literally makes me shiver in excitement.

It’s so nice to be able to look around our house and feel that deep-in-your gut sense of “home.” This layoff has been rough, but I for one am very grateful that I have a hubby who has excessive energy right now!

What does it take for you to make your apartment or house feel more like “Home?”

Filed Under: Marriage Adventures, Our House Tagged With: , ,

Getting Organized

November 18, 2011 By 3 Comments

I can hardly believe its halfway through November, but ready or not here it is. Of course that means that December is almost here which means I have already started itching for a brand new day planner.

I have one right now and it is my life. MY LIFE. I rarely leave home without it, unless its date night with Alex because well I don’t want to have a planner on my dates. Otherwise though, it stays in my black briefcase bag always available to me at a moment’s notice.

This planner is great as it has a hard cover with a magnetic flap that I can use to tuck unpaid bills in so that I remember to pay them. Plus it has the weeks separated out so I can look at my week in a glance. Lastly it has monthly “notes” sections and blank notes sections where I can keep track of what bills I should be expecting and how much they were / are so I can plot our finances for months at a moment’s notice. In other words I use it to keep track of our bills, our activities, doctor appointments, and everyone else’s birthday. I also use it to keep track of work related dates that I might otherwise forget.

Now I have an iPhone that I love and which keeps me pretty darn organized most of the time but I can honestly say that I could not function without my hard day planner. Next year however, I want to be a tad more organized with the blog.

As such I’ve decided I need not one, but TWO day – planners to function. One for my life and the other for this blog.  Which leaves me undecided on what to get for each one. Clearly with a blog I need enough room to jot down ideas and topics for posts, but I don’t need a ton of extra space beyond that. However for the everyday planner I need weeks, months, AND little notes sections. Plus I sorely abuse these so they had better be durable.

Do y’all utilize planners for blogging or real life organization? What have you found works best?

Filed Under: Family, Marriage Adventures, Our House Tagged With: , , ,

Conquering The Mountain (Of Laundry)

November 15, 2011 By 4 Comments

It has been well documented that in our household, Alex is the Laundry King.

Or in other words, I stink at laundry and since he wants his whites white and darks not faded he took control of this because about the only thing I do well is get the clothes wet and in a puddling mass inside the washing machine.

It’s also been documented that I do not, under any circumstances, know how to iron clothes. Best gal’s wedding…we had to haul in Alex to iron clothes. He loved us.

This past weekend however, I stepped up to the challenge. I conquered the mountain. I learned….How To Iron.

click for source

Well the basic principles of ironing at least.

(Ok I learned how to turn the darn thing on and what the temp settings meant for my shirts.)

Important things like one should hold taught the shirt and you iron the back side of the buttons do not come naturally to me. Also – collar stays melt. Just a FYI.

Now part of why I avoided learning this chore for so long is if I know how to iron what is there to stop me from having to DO the ironing? Nothing but my own ineptitude for the task that’s what!

Luckily in my attempts to learn how to iron we also learned that I really do stink at it. I iron a shirt the wrinkles look flat.

Alex irons a shirt…it has no wrinkles. (You know the whole rhyme and reason behind ironing.)

So I am proud to say that while I now know why one puts water in an iron and the theory of “ironing basics” I am in no means a master at the craft. Which means I can remain happily in the kitchen cooking.

And eating snacks.

Clearly I got the best deal here.

Filed Under: Marriage Adventures, Our House Tagged With: ,

How to Cook a Bushel of Apples

October 18, 2011 By 4 Comments

A few weeks ago we went to the apple orchard. We came home with a LOT of apples. Which are delicious to eat by themselves, but if you are anything like me eating 25 lbs of apples one apple at a time can get kinda old pretty quick. Plus it’s not like the apples are going to stay good forever so what do you DO?

Well in my case I broke out a few delicious apple recipes I have. Since its Tuesday and I’m still enraptured by Pinterest (You can check out what little I have here) I figured I’d share those recipes. The first up is my apple pie. Now I’m not gonna brag (too much) but everyone my family always requires me to make this every year.  The second is just a fun dinner idea if you have an apple or two leftover and want to spice up your chicken dinner.

Apple Pie

Pre-heat oven to 415 degrees F

Ingredients:

8 cups of apples peeled and thinly sliced

¼ cup of sugar

¼ cup of brown sugar firmly packed

2 tbs of all-purpose flour

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp grated lemon peel

¼ tsp of salt

2 tsp lemon juice

1 tbs of margarine

Directions:

Toss together all of the ingredients in a large bowl (helps to use your hands) being sure to thoroughly mix the margarine and dry ingredients evenly throughout all of the apple slices. Scoop into a 9 inch unbaked pie crust heaping high in the middle. Now take a knife and dot the pie with margarine in 5 places. Place the top crust on your pie and seal. Slice 3 to 5 steam holes in the top crust. Wrap foil over the crust edge to prevent excessive browning and place on a cookie sheet.

Bake at 415 degrees for 30 minutes before removing the foil from the crust edge. Bake another 10 – 20 minutes.

Apple Skillet Chicken

This can feed 2 – 4 people based on how many chicken breasts you cook

Ingredients:

2 apples – core and dice

1 tbs of worchestire  sauce

2 tbs of dried onion flakes –OR- ½ onion finely diced

2 tbs butter / margarine

1 tbs cider vinegar

½ tsp of dried thyme

In a large skillet over medium heat, heat your margarine or butter. Cook the apples, diced onion or onion flakes, and thyme for about 4 minutes or until apples are just slightly tender. Scoop out the mixture into a bowl and add the remaining ingredients to the skillet. Cook the chicken for 4 minutes on each side, turning only once. Add back your bowl of apples, onion and thyme to the skillet, cover and let simmer for 6 to 8 minutes or until chicken is thoroughly cooked.

With a slotted spoon dish up the chicken. You can add a tsp of flour to the mixture in the sauce and stir over high heat for two minutes to allow the juice to thicken before serving over chicken or dish up as is. Either way, enjoy!

This post includes a print link at the bottom for ease in printing the recipes for your own enjoyment. 

Filed Under: Fall, Marriage Adventures, Our House Tagged With: , , , ,

An Average Married Weekend

October 17, 2011 By 6 Comments

Its Sunday evening and Alex and I are relaxing to the yummy scents of a Pumpkin Caramel candle while the dishwasher runs and the dryer dries. In other words, homey scents and sounds are filling our house. The weekend has been a good one, but let’s be honest also pretty simple. Marriage cannot be date nights every weekend otherwise we’d be totally broke!

click for source

Saturday was a fun day for me because I was able to spend part of the day with my bestie Shelly. (She who now monitors my photo taking of her). We were able to walk and talk and shop at the mall which is always nice because she and I do only get to see each other every couple of months. Then I was able to see some co-workers and a former co-worker (I miss her already!!) for drinks. It was nice to be able to chat and in general mingle outside of work. It was especially awesome to be able to see the former co-worker whom I wasn’t sure when I would get to see again and just give her a big ol’ hug.

Unfortunately Saturday night we were struck with the Chore Wars once again. I seriously think Reality TV could have an awesome series if they just documented married couples’ and the Chore Wars. Reality is that Saturday night we each disappeared to our corners to “chill” and calm down. Alex was able to hang with friends and I curled up in our guest room (it’s the only bedroom with a t.v.) where I watch a super girly movie.

Today we again separated as he slept in and I got up to go for a walk in the park. I was able to take some fun photos which I’m hoping to get up tomorrow and think. I also found that MS lurvs MJ. I know this is true because the gazebo had it spray painted everywhere so it must be an eternal love!

(Spray painting your affections means it will last forever right?)

(If you disagree I think you should spray paint your protest. Think how pretty and colorful park benches would be!)

(Just so you know I’m not actually endorsing vandalism. Only spray paint the benches you own. Otherwise its illegal. And I do not have enough bail money to endorse that.)

Today we just chilled around these house until dinner time where we were able to have a good discussion about our argument from last night. Chores will likely always be a slight issue in our household because we were raised differently and its two styles of life trying to merge. The biggest issue is not who does what so much as certain chores are daily and certain chores are weekly. Plus some could be classified as  ”guy” or “girl” chores and we don’t agree on how to handle all of these. There is always going to be a difficulty in that. Luckily we’re both determined to continue working towards a middle ground.

It’s not the most exciting weekend, but hey this is the average life of a married couple. Especially in this economy. Laundry, grocery shopping, and house chores.

How do you split the household chores?

Filed Under: Marriage, Marriage Adventures, Our House Tagged With: , , , ,
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