"Wall of Fame"

With all of this time spent at home, I have been in project mode!  Some cleaning and organizing, some de-cluttering, some makeovers...  While cleaning out my big storage closet and coming across high school band concert posters and play programs I got an idea -- why let them collect dust in the closet, why not hang them?  My two girls have been involved in a lot of things in school - bands, honors ensembles, plays, musicals, film fests, etc.  We are always proud of their hard work, effort and achievements so why not show them?  We have a staircase with bare walls and I have not known what to decorate that with.  We purchased very inexpensive black frames from Walmart and we used the Command strips to hang everything -- so my husband didn't have to hammer a ton of nails into the wall (he was thrilled!!)!  This is one of my favorite projects that we have done in the house - I love seeing it everyday and these important moments are on display to be remembered instead of cluttered in a closet.  But the best part of all is that the girls love seeing their hard work on display!

Summer Garden

We tried our second garden this summer!  This was a trial and error year which was prompted by the Coronavirus global pandemic.  Back in April, supermarkets seemed to be clearing out - in addition to toilet paper, sanitizing supplies and even bread and baking supplies running out, locally we were low on things like eggs.  We know lots of people in our town that have chickens or ducks for eggs and I was deeply regretting not having our own chickens!  (Although, truthfully, I've heard some stories that make me think YIKES... the term "egg bound" springs to mind...)  But a conversation with my bestie about the value of being more self-sufficient got me motivated to start our first garden here!  And, with a long "pandemic summer" looming ahead of us I thought a summer garden would be a great project to keep the girls entertained.  (I was half right...)  My friend told me that seeds were also hard to come by this year, but we had a canister of (old) heirloom seeds that I had been holding on to for years.  We decided to build raised garden beds on the sunniest side of our house.  That side of the has a light layer of gravel on the ground (the former homeowner kept a camper over there) so this was an easy way to plant a garden without having to use a roto-tiller.  My husband built two simple wood framed boxes and we had a load of dirt delivered to fill them.  All of the time and effort to prep this year is done and next year will be a piece of cake!  We planted our seeds after doing some internet research about what each plant would need (amount of space, sun, etc.).  We also tried planting a few cut up potatoes with eyes, some green onions that we had used and started in a jar of water until roots had grown again.  

And we planted some already started mint and tomato plants.  The girls were able to watch the plants from their bedroom windows this summer which was fun for them and my eldest turned out to be quite the farmer!  The garden ended up being HER project this summer - her younger sister did a lot of cooking, which she enjoys, but she is not terribly interested in gardening.  But differences make life interesting!  Anyway, our old seeds were...too old.  But we got a few little potatoes, lots of mint, TONS of tomatoes, some basil...  All in all, not a bad harvest!  Of course our family farmer, happens to be a vegetarian who does not like tomatoes.  So I tried some new recipes that transformed tomatoes into things she would eat.  We tried fried green tomatoes which were delicious, Half Baked Harvest Easy Sheet Pan Tomato Herb Pizza which was a big hit (my husband liked it better than take-out!), roasted tomato pasta sauce, and tomorrow I will try my hand at fresh salsa.  We look forward to next year's garden, trying some new things (getting new seeds!) and learning from this year's experience.  

Where Have I Been Lately?

My Girls on Concert & Science Fair Night!

Life has been pretty darn busy.  When we moved from NY to NH, and I went from working 35 hours a week outside of the house (and spending an additional hour commuting) to working 20 hours a week IN the home, I thought, "Oh hooray, I'll have more time to write on my blog!"  Yeah, right...  We've been here for almost 5 years now, and in the beginning, I volunteered for a lot of things because a) I was more of a stay-at-home mom now and when I worked away from home I missed out on helping at school, and b) it was a good way to meet people and make connections in our new town where we knew absolutely no one!  Those things kept me busy, got me involved in the community and most importantly in my kiddos lives!  And so, my blog was one of the things that got put on the back burner.  

Fast forward to this past week, when my girls and I were eating dinner together two nights in a row while my husband had to work late, and my eldest pulled up my blog on her phone and started entertaining us with stories of when they were younger!  We laughed so hard at some of the stories - my 11-year-old briefly reverted back to a 2-year-old for 24 hours, repeating some of the cute things that she had heard that she had said 9 years prior...  But mostly we just really enjoyed having that record of our family.  The girls both told me that I should write the blog again and I said they should make a list of things they want me to catch up on and I will do my best!  If for no one else's entertainment than theirs -- and my mom who always read my blog posts!  (Love you, Mom!)

This reinvigoration for my blog is coming during one of my busiest times of the year - Pops Concert Raffle Time!  To catch up on what I / we are up to these days, I have an 11-year-old who is in middle school and is in band, jazz band and drama club.  I have a 17-year-old who is in high school and is in too many bands to name (I believe it's 5 at school and 1 community band in a neighboring town).  This year I have opted to drive them to school, instead of having them take the bus that arrives at 6:25am (if I drive we leave the house at 7!) and because they have so many after-school activities, I pick them up every day.  Our schools are about 7 minutes from our house and I am happy to be able to do this - it is a little extra time with them each day, an opportunity to make sure we all know the afternoon pick up schedule on the way to school, and an opportunity to hear about their days a little before we get home and have homework to do.  I still work from home, but I have a new job that I love - back in human services which is my favorite type of work!  In addition, I still work a few hours a week for my other virtual job, which helps them and also helps support all of the extra activities, lessons, school trips, proms...  I also (from year 1 here) still teach Sunday school at church during the year -- I am excited for next year when I will be back helping with my youngest daughter's class!  And I volunteer for End 68 Hours a couple of times a month and as I mentioned - it's Pops Concert Raffle Time - I am the committee of one for the big year-end raffle at the high school's end of year concert.  

I am super busy these days, but through all of this I get to spend a lot of time with my girls, I know a lot of their friends, their friends' parents, their teachers, and I definitely feel involved in our adopted community -- and I wouldn't change any of that!  (Although if anyone wants to help me make calls for raffle prize donations or help with writing Thank You cards at the end of May, let me know!  ;)

Back to School Routine

Off to school on their first day!

I honestly do not know where the summer went this year!  It seems like I was just picking the girls up from their last day of school, and now they've been back to school a little over a week!!  The last week of their summer vacation, I was feeling like we didn't do enough, or we didn't do anything too exciting, or I worked too much (20 hours a week from home).  Also, with my "baby" leaving elementary school and moving up to 5th grade at the middle school, and my eldest entering 10th grade (!!) I was having the pangs of the rapid passage of time and how did this two little munchkins grow up so quickly?  A funny thing happened though on the first day of school - I had a distinct feeling of "there is nothing I can do about it now, today is a new day" and I have quickly gotten into the school routine again!  

But our routine has changed a lot this year!  My girls both ride the same bus - at the same time - last year the bus & driver made the route at 6:30am to pick my eldest up, and then did the route again to pick my youngest up at 8:00am!  This year, with one in middle school and one in high school, they are on the same bus, so my youngest and I are getting up at 5:45am every morning to make the 6:30 bus!  My eldest still gets up at 5:30am as she has the past few years, but now she has to share the bathroom with her little sister -- she is not thrilled about that!  Last year my older daughter had a routine of getting up, eating breakfast, relaxing for a few minutes whether back in bed or on the computer or on her iPod, then getting ready for school.  Her make-up routine involved mascara.  Over the summer, when her cousin and best friend came to visit for a week she was introduced to the larger world of make-up (tasteful, of course!) and so that takes a little more mirror time in the morning!  Last year, I would get up about 20 minutes before my daughter left on the bus -- she is more than capable of getting herself ready and out the door, but I wanted her to have some company in the morning and also wanted to make sure that she got on the bus safely.  

I had planned to get up earlier this year and help my little one get ready.  All summer she begged to have an alarm clock -- panicking about how would she wake up on her own at 5:00 (really 5:45, but she had 5 in her head) without an alarm clock?  I promised I would wake her, but she insisted, so I found a little white alarm clock with multi-colored numbers -- for $5.99 at Target!  Can't beat that!  We got that the week before school started and every night at bedtime she wanted to set it for "5:00" the next morning!  I convinced her that we could wait, no need to wake up so early when we didn't have to!  A few days before school we began getting her back to an earlier bedtime.  The first day of school, at 5:45am her alarm made the first "blip" of it's little song, and she bounced out of bed and shut it off, ready to start the day!  This summer, we cleaned out the clothes in both girls' closets and set them up with one of those hanging fabric shelves that has about 6 "pockets" (shelves).  My eldest is not quite using it the way I had in mind, but my youngest and I have gone through her clothes and picked out a week's worth of outfits at a time and we put one complete outfit in each "pocket."  In the morning, her alarm goes off, she gets up, opens her closet and takes out her outfit to get dressed!  This has been working WONDERFULLY for both her and me!  It saves both of us time in the morning!

I am not normally a morning person, but this past week in particular, I have found myself enjoying staying up (I really could go back to bed for a little bit if I wanted) and getting work done earlier, straightening things up around the house, etc.  Yesterday, I had pot roast in the crock pot at 6:00am, had made beds, done the dishes, folded some laundry, and put 4 hours of work in by 11:00am!  What a great feeling!!  I was lucky to find a part-time, 20 hour a week job as a virtual executive assistant, and so I am able to work from home which really is a blessing!  It can be a stressful job, in spite of the fact that I work at home and can work in my pj's if I want...  I am trying to better manage my time so that when the girls get home around 2:30pm, I am done with work and available to help with homework and hear about their day with no work distractions!  So far so good since school started last week!

What types of things do you do to help ease back into the school routine?

First of the Season!

First of the season!  Made homemade pumpkin pie for the family -- my littlest one's favorite (she's been asking for it all summer)!

Re-Organizing a Child's Room

Here's the "After"

It is February recess here and we have friends traveling to Florida, friends traveling to Africa -- what exciting locale did we travel to?  My youngest daughter's bedroom!  Woo hoo!  ;)  I work part-time from home and still needed to get my hours in, and my husband had Mon & Tues off, so we had hoped to do some fun things while he was off.  Unfortunately, he got a 24-hour flu bug and we quarantined him away from the rest of us all day on Monday!  While he was in quarantine ;) I got a burst of Spring (overly optimistic at this point) cleaning energy, and talked the girls into tackling my youngest daughter's room! I had a flash the other night of a different furniture set up in her room that I thought might give her more space.  We moved here almost 3 years ago and her room was the first one painted and one of the first to be set up.  At the time, I thought I was arranging her furniture in the best way possible with the configuration of door, windows, closet.  It worked for a long time, but lately I've been feeling like it was getting cluttered and feeling tight.  

Previously, when you entered the room, the bed was placed opposite the door, horizontally.  There was a small area to the right of that (where her bed is now) that was open floor space for her to play.  Recently I had a thought of, "I wonder if I can fit the bed in between the windows?"  I measured it out first -- ALWAYS a good idea before you start moving heavy furniture!!  It looked like it would fit and so we got started!  My eldest daughter, bless her heart, was up for helping Mom with the heavy lifting!  The worst thing to move was her little white dresser (right side of the picture).  It was awkward to move and HEAVY!  The carpets were also a pain to move!  Ideally, you would take everything out of the room, lay down the area rugs, and then bring the furniture back in.  But, there was no way that I was taking her bed apart -- that would have been a project in itself!  So, we moved as much stuff out as possible, leaving the bed (largest item) and the dresser (heaviest item).  We rolled the carpets up and moved the bed first -- piece of cake!  It is a beautiful, sturdy bed, but thankfully it is also super easy to move!!  Then we rolled out 1 area rug and vacuumed it thoroughly and then did the same with the second area rug (the rug is actually 2 identical area rugs that I bought at Target for $100 each.  We've had them since before she was born (she's 9) and I still love them!  Thankfully, so does my girlie!  She likes to try to play hopscotch on the squares...).  We slid one into place under the bed -- not too tricky, just had to lift up one corner of the bed.  Then the second rug...  In our first attempt, we had the HEAVY dresser on the wall to the left of the picture, facing the bed, and so all of the dresser legs had to be on the rug -- VERY difficult to maneuver!  We left it that way for the night, and in the morning I still did not love the way it looked and thankfully my husband was up and feeling better and he moved the dresser to where it is now.  That made a big difference!  

"Before"

The biggest change in the room was the bed -- just flipping it to the opposite side, I cannot even tell you how much larger her room looks now!  My "before" picture is from the first week we moved -- I think it looks roomier here due to a combo of the camera angle and the fact that over the past 3 years she's accumulated a lot more -- including a big toy box!  In addition to rearranging her furniture and giving her room a good Spring cleaning, we also took the opportunity to go through everything to de-clutter!  My eldest daughter was so helpful with this -- the 3 of us sat on the floor and started with the stuffed animals.  My youngest LOVES stuffed animals and they seem to multiply quickly in her room!  We went through all of her stuffed animals and made piles of things that we are keeping in her room, things that we want to keep in her "special box" as a keepsake, things that are broken and could be thrown away, and things that we don't need and we can give away to someone else.  We followed the same process with her closet, in particular with her box of dress up things!  With both groups of items, my eldest would hold something up and ask her little sister, "Do you need this?"  Immediately, "YES!"  And if it was something that was in good shape, we know that she loves it, have seen her wear or use it, we would put it in the "keep" pile.  There was a large number of items in both groups that my eldest and I knew right away could go in the trash or giveaway piles, but still, my little girlie's first answer was KEEP!  My eldest would then say, "Really?  You really need to keep (fill in the blank)?"  Yes!  "But I never even see you playing with it!" or, tease her gently, "Really?  You need to keep stuffed BAT?"  The 3 of us had lots of laughs during the process -- watching my eldest grab various crazy dress up items and put them on -- light up sunglasses, boa, you name it!  She reached in her little sister's toy box and then screamed when her hand laid on a stuffed rat!!  (Beanie Baby)  But at first glance she thought it was a real rat!  We laughed hysterically over that and it went right into the giveaway pile!  We got everything de-cluttered and organized and into place on the first day and by the end of the second day we also had everything re-hung on her walls,  

It was not a relaxing, tropical vacation, but we all felt like we had accomplished something, my girlie loves her "new" room, has a fresh start when school is back in session, and we all had a surprisingly fun time with lots of laughs!!  Now my eldest wants us to work on her room next!!

Menu Planning Helper

I don't know about you, but I tend to feel like we get into a rut with dinners in our house.  As each season moves along, I find myself looking forward to the next season and the different types of meals we will have -- right now, I'm so looking forward to Spring and Summer when the snow will melt and we'll be able to find the grill again!  Halfway through Summer, I'll be longing for comfort foods and my beloved Crock-Pot!  I have been looking for some ways to get out of this food rut and here is what I have come up with:

- I bought a little whiteboard that I put up on the inside of one of my kitchen cupboards.  This helps me in two ways.  Actually, three!  1) I post a list of meals on the board so that I can keep track of what we have eaten recently, so I am not boring everyone with the same thing over and over.  2) Having my meals planned out and listed there helps to keep me on track with grocery shopping - I know that I only need to get things for the meals on the board - and keeps me from wavering and deciding to order a pizza or other take-out -- it's on the board, that's what we're eating!  And 3) My girls used to ask me SEVERAL times a day "What's for dinner?"  I could tell them, and then 10 minutes later they would forget and ask again...  "Go check the board!"

- I think I mentioned this a few posts ago, but I recently blew the cobwebs (not really, my house is a little cleaner than that...  a little...) off of my recipe box and pulled out a few recipes that I had not made in a while, and even found one or two that I had NEVER made yet!  It's fun to go through and find recipes that you forgot you had, or maybe you have Grandma's famous recipe for (fill in the blank) and your kids have never had the pleasure of trying that!  And of course, my favorite place to look things up -- Pinterest!  I have literally over 1,000 recipes pinned on there...  I am trying to use those more when I am feeling tapped out of ideas.  I found an amazing roasted chicken recipe on there that has become a family favorite and this weekend I am making "Dirt Cake" for my teen's birthday sleepover (Dirt Cake was her request -- went on Pinterest, found the recipe!).

- And finally, my new favorite idea that came to me last week!  Do you ever go grocery shopping and you are standing by the meat case and you are thinking, "Ugh, what can I do different to chicken this week?"  Or, pork chops, or beef...  I tend to draw a total blank, especially if I don't have a great shopping list.  I will stand there and feel compelled to buy meat knowing that I will have to make dinners for my family, but have NO idea what I'm using it for, serving with it, etc.  And frequently, because I don't know what I'm making, I won't end up buying the other things that I need to make the meal and then I'm running to the grocery store 3 times a week (or sending hubby...).  That is not only a waste of time, it's super expensive!  Here's what I came up with -- I made a list of all of the meals that I could remember that are in my "repertoire" and then I sorted them by whether they were a pasta dish, a fish dish, chicken, beef, pork, etc.  I LOVE LISTS!  I put this one in the "Notes" section of my iPhone, but if I didn't have that, I could easily write it on a piece of paper and put it in my purse.  Now, when I am planning the meals for the week, or the grocery list, or if I'm in the store and see that something's on sale, I can quickly look at my list and see all of the possibilities of things I can make!  Love it!  And, by the way, I was pretty impressed with my list!  I have a lot of recipes that I make -- I can really mix things up to get my family out of the dinner doldrums!

What ideas do you have for menu planning?  Do you have a favorite recipe you would like to share?  

First Communion

My sweet girl in church

This past weekend we celebrated my sweet little daughter's First Communion!  She was fortunate to be surrounded with family for her special day -- my mother-in-law (Grammy) and her sister (Cici) came up from Long Island, my dad (Grandpa) my step-mother (Gramby) and her mom (Mema) came up from Upstate NY, and my aunts, my cousin, and his girlfriend all came from here in NH - it was a wonderful group that represented all sides of our family!

The back of my girlie's dress AND the new kitchen wall color!  ;)

In preparation for the big day, we did what everyone does when they are getting ready for their child's First Communion -- we painted!!  (Right?  That's what people do, don't they?)  We worked on painting the downstairs bathroom which on a regular day is the girls' bathroom, or when we have guests, it's the guest bathroom -- we are in the process of turning a very dark green bathroom with a truly gross closet into a white and pink haven for girls!  Almost there -- just have to put up the shelves in the closet.  We also painted the kitchen - originally it was a light yellow color, but we painted it a reddish color -- kind of a Sante Fe-looking red. It's a paint from Lowe's, actually Sienna Red, I believe.  Red is my favorite color and I've painted the dining room in my last two houses red -- my dining room is part of my kitchen in this house...  I guess that means 3 red dining rooms now!  :)  Anyway, that's just what people do when they are having company come over, isn't it?  You make some food, clean the bathroom, paint the kitchen?  ;)  That's what we do at our house, anyway!  I love having company -- it always gives us a deadline for getting projects done!!

My eldest daughter with her dress & veil

After moving up to New Hampshire about 6 months ago, I've been finding my way around in our new town and the surrounding area -- learning where things are, finding new places to go to eat, to shop, etc.  I was having a hard time finding a place to go to get my daughter's First Communion dress, so I hit the internet and started searching.  I finally found a dress that my little girlie and I both liked on www.hayneedle.com, a site that had all sorts of things (like patio furniture...).  It looked beautiful online and it was a great price, but I made sure to order it early so that I could return it and keep looking if it was not quite what we expected.  But no worries -- it was a beautiful dress!  My eldest daughter even commented at church on Sunday that she liked her sister's dress better than the dress she had picked for herself when it was her First Communion day!  At the time (5 years ago), we finally found her dress at a store called Burlington -- they had an amazingly large selection of First Communion dresses but not a great selection of veils.  For that, I went to David's Bridal and bought a "blusher" which the bride actually would wear over her face, but it works perfectly for a little girl's communion veil.  I also bought a little ring/wreath type headpiece that had two ribbons trailing down the back -- I spent a small fortune on this at the time, but I have kept both pieces safely tucked away in a hatbox for 5 years so that my little one could wear it too!  My eldest wore both pieces together, and my little one decided she just wanted the wreath (I have no idea what that is really called...).  The nice part about that is they each had their own look and it didn't look like they were wearing the same thing!

After church we invited the family back to our house for a luncheon.  All of the New Yorkers' were over before church and Grammy & Gramby helped me pull together baked pasta with mozzarella, meatballs & sauce in the crockpot, Italian sausage with peppers & onions, and a tossed salad.  Everything was ready by the time we got back to the house - just had to heat up the pasta and the rolls!  While we were waiting, I put out cheese, crackers & grapes for people to munch on.  It was a nice, simple meal that I didn't have to prepare while everyone was there!  For dessert, I ordered a delicious ice cream cake from Ava Marie Handmade Chocolates & Ice Cream.  We found a Party City store nearby and went out the other night to pick up plates & napkins in a pretty pink (our girlie's signature color!) pattern with a cross on them.  Note to self for the future -- I had seen these online prior to driving to the store, and they were on sale on the website -- not so in the actual store!  If I had thought about it sooner, I could have placed an order and had the stuff shipped to me UPS Ground and saved myself some money!  Good to know for next time!

My husband and I went back and forth about finding just the right gift for our little one.  When her sister had her First Communion, I found a beautiful sterling silver beaded bracelet (she's wearing it in the picture above) from Things Remembered and I bought one for her -- I think I had the heart on it engraved with her name and the date of her First Communion.  I also bought the same bracelet for her cousin who is my Goddaughter -- they are 2 months apart in age, best friends, and celebrated their First Communions right around the same time, so it was perfect for both of them!  I would have loved to have gotten the same thing for my little one, but no such luck -- they didn't have that same bracelet.  From there we looked at gold crosses, but my little girlie has been asking for a locket for a couple of years and she absolutely loves the silver heart locket that my husband and girls gave me for Mother's Day (the first Mother's Day after my second daughter was born) and I wear just about every day.  That led my husband and I to the local jewelry store where we were able to order a silver heart locket (she's wearing it in her picture) - very similar to Mommy's! - and they sent it out to have a cross and her name engraved on the front and "Love, Mommy & Daddy" engraved on the back.  She just loved it when we gave it to her to wear on Sunday for her First Communion!

If you've spent any time reading this blog, you know that I LOVE to decorate -- the house in general, for holidays, special events, you name it!  This wasn't the 4th of July, so I kept it toned down a bit...  Aside from the paper goods, the only "decoration" that I bought was a bunch of pink tulips from the grocery store -- pink because it is my girlie's favorite color and tulips because they are such a sign of Spring!  After that, I just used my own favorite decorating tip -- I "shopped my house!"  I am always telling my friends to do this -- go through your house and see what you already own that you can use to decorate in a new way!  

I drew a cross on my little chalkboard, put out a little pink milk glass vase (pink - thinking of whose special day this was!), a white vase that reminded me of a First Communion, and a little angel that used to be my grandmother's.

I love this mirror that I use as a base for centerpieces on my dining room table!  In addition to the pink tulips, I added a picture from my little girl's baptism, as well as her baptismal candle, and a little angel bell that I have of my grandmother's (Gram loves angels!!)

This is actually something I made a couple of years ago, intending it to be an Easter decoration, but I like it so much that now I leave it in my front entry year round!  So easy to make -- 2 twigs tied together with a little bit of twine.

I am a detail person -- I tend to notice the little things and I like to focus on little touches when I am decorating my house whether it's for everyday living or if I am decorating for a special event or party like my daughter's First Communion.  I know not everyone will notice, but it always makes me happy to put a little extra effort in to show my family and friends that they are special to me.  Everyone seemed to have a lovely time (regardless of my decorating, I'm sure!) and I know my sweet girl had a special day that she will hopefully always remember!

Spring Awakening

I've been in a modified hibernation mode a little bit this winter -- we moved here to New Hampshire at the end of November and it's pretty much been winter ever since!  I have been keeping myself busy with indoor activities - laundry (so much laundry!), expanding my horizons with cooking, keeping house for my family, and painting / decorating the house.  We live in a beautiful New England-y neighborhood and I've seen neighbors out walking their dogs all through the winter.  I had every intention of following suit, but frankly -- I'm cold!  It's funny, because I'm from Upstate NY - we KNOW cold.  We do cold winters - and this winter was a particularly bad one in our old city.  Generally speaking, I don't think our winter here in NH was any worse than NY - I actually think it was a little milder.  Our first major purchase in NH - after the house! - was a new snow blower and when we used it a few times but not as much as I had anticipated.  My favorite purchase for winter?  A $20 oscillating, electric heater for my girls to use in our playroom, which is technically an enclosed porch.  We made it a "4-season" porch with the little heater and a mandate to wear a sweater or robe out there!  That has worked out well and now the weather is warming up and that will be an enjoyable room without the heater and robe!  Next year when I see those heaters on sale again, I'll be grabbing another one for the living room -- when the girls weren't using it on the porch I would have it in the living room with me!!

Anyway, in some ways it feels like time is flying by, and in other ways it seems as though it has been winter forever!!  We have been thrilled to see the temperatures start to rise, the snow melt and spring is in the air.  Since we moved here at the end of the fall / beginning of winter, our new yard has been hidden under leaves or snow.  It's exciting to discover what is out there as the snow melts away.  We have a stone wall (which we knew about -- it's much more visible now!) and my youngest loves to climb up on one side of it when she gets off the bus each day.  That's her special spot, she tells me.  My eldest wants to plant some flowers under her bedroom window - I told her I'm excited to see what comes up in the yard!  Mabel (our Boston Terrier) and I took a "sniff" (a LOT of her stopping and sniffing - not so much walking) around the front and backyard the other day after getting my little one on the school bus.  I think I see hydrangeas which are my favorite, so it will be exciting to see what colors they are!  That day was particularly nice with warm temps and blue sky so I found a place to sit on the back patio (needs a LOT of TLC -- can't wait to work on that next week!) and I enjoyed relaxing and listening to the birds chirping as Mabel sniffed around the patio and the backyard.

I think we can all use a bit of fresh, spring air at this point!  Yesterday, my husband had the day off and after spending much of the day finishing up painting projects, he picked the girls up from school and took our little one to both of the playgrounds in town!  She's been able to play on her school playground at recess -- and has enjoyed sledding at recess.  But now she's happy to go on the slides and swings -- some of the fun things of spring and summer!  She was extremely excited to finally get to play at the town playground which has been covered by snow most of the time that we've lived here! 

Looking forward to Easter with the family, including my mom who is coming up from Florida -- can't wait to show her our house and town!  Looking forward to putting my little heater away and opening the windows, and most of all, looking forward to shaking off hibernation mode, getting my energy up, and getting out in the neighborhood to walk my dog and meet the neighbors!

Settling In

The girls in front of our new home!

I'm still here!  Well, my physical "here" has changed, but I've missed my blog terribly and am anxious to get back to writing!  The past four or five months have been very busy for us - my husband got a new job in New Hampshire and the girls and I were back in in New York packing and trying to sell our house while he was staying with wonderful relatives and working for 3 months!  Then the girls (and Mabel, the dog!) and I moved in with my dad and stepmother for almost a month while we waited to close on both houses (selling the one, buying the new one) and the girls continued to go to school.  Now we are finally up in beautiful New Hampshire, and all together again!

Fit for a princess!

We're getting settled in - almost all of the boxes are unpacked (yay!!) - although I have not ventured up to the attic yet...  My 7-year-old's room was the first to be completed -- it looks lovely and pink and princess-y -- just like her!  My 12 - I mean, nearly 13-year-old's (this month -- a teenager!!) room need some work.  We're in the process of painting it - really just need to paint the trim now - and the other day I spent some time sorting through the last of the big boxes in there.  She assures me that it will all come together when Daddy finds the hardware to hang her two Pottery Barn floating shelves -- seems like a lot to ask of two little shelves, but we'll see!  At this point most of what needs to be done is painting and hanging things -- every day that my husband has off, I grab him to hang some more things around the house!  Right now I am enjoying being a full-time stay-at-home mom!  At some point I will probably look for something but at the most it will be part-time so that I can be home with the kids on their vacations, summer, etc.  It's really a dream come true for me -- I love being home when they get home, hearing about their days, helping my little one with homework, making hot cocoa, snuggling on the couch!

I look forward to telling you more about our adventure!  Hopefully this will be a wonderful new year for my family and yours!

Holiday Decorating

I may have mentioned this before, but when I was growing up, no one in my house put much effort into decorating for the holidays. For Christmas, we had a macramé Santa face that my dad had made hanging on the front door, a Christmas needlepoint on the wall (again, made by Dad!), a wreath over the fireplace and a tree in the family room -- that was it for the holiday decor... With the birth of my first child, came the birth of a holiday-decorating fiend!! I started out small at first and I have been growing and growing ever since! I absolutely love decorating for the holidays – ALL of them! I have tubs in the basement with Easter, St. Pat’s, 4^th of July (which I actually leave up from Memorial Day in May until Sept 11^th), Thanksgiving and Christmas decorations. After Christmas I take down my Santa-related Christmas decorations and my nativity scene (and the trees - we put up two) and I switch over to snowmen for the rest of January. I have a few things for Valentine’s Day, but I really need to put a little more effort into that holiday! Since having my daughters, I really enjoy making a cozy home for my family and I love to make each holiday special with decorations. I was never sure if anyone appreciated the effort (although I don’t mind – I would do it now, regardless!) until my 12-year-old told me several times that she loved how I had decorated the house for Easter. 

And my 6-year-old has obviously developed an appreciation too!  The week before Easter, I was tucking her into bed and she told me that she felt bad because she didn’t have a lot of things to decorate her room for Easter. I looked around as she said, “I only have my bunny books, my bunny rabbits, and my Easter bonnet!” And sure enough, she had pulled out any books that had bunnies on them, she had pulled out all of her stuffed rabbits, and she had put a big hat on her big, stuffed Tigger! She had placed the books and the bunnies around the room – carefully decorating for Easter! I was so tickled – she obviously got that from Mommy! Children are such little sponges – they absorb everything around them! Holiday decorating may not seem like the most important thing to do with how busy we all get, but I think it’s so important to do what you can to make your house a home for your family – to show them that they are worth the effort, and to give your children positive, happy energy to absorb!

We finally took the Easter stuff down this week and I immediately tried to think of the next holiday that I should be decorating for...  I think Memorial Day!  I'll have to put a few Spring decorations up to bridge until I bring the patriotic decorations out...

Rainy Day Fun in Autumn

For weeks we have planned to take the girls trick-or-treating at the Genesee Country Village, but alas, Hurricane Sandy is dampening our plans - literally!  We very nearly went in spite of the cold, damp weather -- our 11-year-old desperately wanted to go! -- but when it started pouring rain we were able to talk her into staying at home today.  She is dressed in her pioneer dress (what she would have worn to GCV) and we are having a day of pumpkin painting & carving, Halloween crafts, and baking, with a special viewing of a "Little House on the Prairie" Halloween episode for our eldest daughter, and "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" for our youngest! 

My husband and I have to carve our pumpkins - I can hear my eldest daughter telling her dad to carve the NY Islanders (our favorite team) logo into his pumpkin...  And of course, I'll make a batch of pumpkin seeds - yum!  My little one painted a princess face on her pumpkin and when it's dry, we'll put one of her tiaras on top.  My eldest loves video games (in spite of her longing to be a pioneer...) and she painted one of the PacMan ghosts on her pumpkin -- she did a great job!

I have roast beef in the crock-pot, banana bread in the works, and apple crisp for dessert.  I have the Halloween lights on and yummy smelling candles lit -- it's a wonderfully cozy day at home!  And my little girlie found another cozy thing to do on a rainy day -- tea party for her One Hundred Acre Woods friends! 

Do-It-Yourself Frame w/ Scrapbook Paper

The second item that I “face lifted” was my chalkboard. I bought my chalkboard at Hobby Lobby for $12. I have had it hanging in my living room for over a year and while I loved the idea of it (chalkboard “art” – having a large chalkboard on the wall that I could decorate with seasonal messages and inspirational quotes), the frame left little to be desired… 

I bought some scrapbook paper from the craft store (about $ .50 per sheet at Joann’s or Hobby Lobby) and I bought some smooth molding from Lowe’s (under $10). Just like I did with the mirror project, I measured the length that I wanted the pieces, got the molding cut to size (thanks again, Dad!!) and then this time, instead of painting the molding, I glued the scrapbook paper on! You can buy “Modge Podge” from the craft store, but I had white glue and I mixed that in a bowl with water until it looked like milk. I cut the scrapbook paper into vertical strips that were wider than the width of the molding. Then I took a paintbrush (I used a sponge-y brush) and my glue mixture and I “painted” the scrapbook paper and the top side of the molding (as opposed to the flat, underside) and carefully placed the paper on the molding. 

Because I cut it into wide strips, I was able to wrap it around the molding so that it would stay in place a little better! Just pay attention to any pattern that your paper has – mine was toile (my favorite!) so I wanted to make sure the pictures would all be right-side up – I didn’t want to have anyone hanging upside down! I used my hands a lot on this project – to smooth the wet, glue-y paper down on the molding, to wrap the paper around the edges – it was a tad messy! I did this inside, at my kitchen table, but I covered it with a large garbage bag first, to protect it from the mess! When the paper was adhered to the molding, I gave it a final coat of the glue mixture as an added layer of protection. 

Once everything was dry, I used Liquid Nails (regular, not for mirrors like with my last project) and I glued the 4 pieces of the frame into place on the existing frame of the chalkboard. I let it dry and the next day I hung it back on the wall. I could not be more pleased with this – it really looks adorable!!  I would use this same technique on smaller chalkboards (like the one on my counter top), picture frames, or even as an alternative to my mirror frame project. And this is just as versatile as the painted mirror frame idea – you can customize the frame with any number of colors or themes of scrapbook paper! I’ve seen holiday paper, sports-related, harlequin – you name it! I have this in mind as a project for a couple of special girls that I know… ;)

Do-It-Yourself Framed Mirror

One of my favorite projects this summer has been creating two different decorative frames to really give a “face lift” two somewhat boring objects in my house! They were both ideas that I have had in the back of my head for quite some time, and when I finally got around to completing the projects I couldn’t believe how easy they were! I should have done these AGES ago! The first “boring object” was my bathroom mirror. We have a huge mirror that hangs over the sink in our main bathroom. There was no frame around the mirror – it was just a large, rectangular (boring) mirror. I wanted to frame it to make it look fancier, so I bought a piece of decorative wood molding at Lowe’s – you can get any kind, and they vary in cost – this was probably $10 and it was more detailed than some of the others. I wanted it to look like a somewhat ornate picture frame, so I was going for detail! I also bought a can of silver spray paint and some Liquid Nails – make sure to get the kind for mirrors – we had to run back to the store to get the right kind! I measured the mirror and wrote down the lengths that I wanted for the top, bottom & sides of the frame. Then, I was lucky enough to be able to pass that piece of paper on to my Dad who cut everything to size for me! If you do not have that convenience available to you, you can get a miter box and saw to make the angled cuts yourself, or you may try going to your local home improvement store and ask if they will cut the molding for you (which they may, if you have purchased it from them!). After the pieces were cut to size, I sanded them down a little and then spray painted them with the silver paint – make sure to do it outside or in a well-ventilated area. I gave them another light sanding after the first coat dried, wiped off the dust and spray painted them a second time. Once they were dry, we used the Liquid Nails for Mirrors and carefully adhered the pieces to the mirror. It looks fabulous, if I do say so myself!

This is a super easy, super inexpensive way to re-purpose an old mirror for your child’s room – maybe you have an old mirror lying around, or picked something up at a garage sale and you want to fix it up for your child’s room. You can use any type of paint color to match your child’s room – pink, if you have a little girl, blue for a boy, something metallic for a teenager… Or let them paint it themselves! If you are particular about matching room colors, then provide them with only the paint colors that you “approve” of. Or, how cute would it be to use smooth molding and let your child paint their hands and put their hand-prints all over it? The possibilities are endless!

Stay tuned – next I’ll show you my other fabulous frame idea! I love this even more than the mirror!

First Day of School!

My sweet girls were back to school today!  My eldest (who is now 5'7" and taller than her mother!) is in the 6th grade and my "baby" is in the 1st grade and in school for full days now!  (Mommy seemed to have a harder time adjusting to that than she did!)  They looked lovely in their new dresses -- they both like to wear dresses for the first day -- so glad that they appreciate getting dressed up for the first day of school!  When I drop my eldest daughter off at school or pick her up some days, there are kids that look like they came to school in their pajamas...  Yesterday we were all home for the day and with rain pouring outside we opted to clean closets!  I had meant to do it this summer, but time got away from me.  I always like the girls to start the school year off with a clean, organized room, and it certainly helps us to get ready faster when we know where everything is, and the dressers and closets are only full of clothes that fit!  Once they were in bed, I gathered up pictures for them to put in their lockers -- my little one has a locker this year too -- that is very possibly her favorite part about school this year!
 
Daddy, Grandpa and I were all there to walk them down to the bus this morning -- videotaping and cameras flashing away!  We were like the paparazzi...  Thankfully, my girls don't seem to mind!  (I figured if anyone said anything to my 6th grader about the fanfare at the bus stop, she could blame it on her 1st grade sister!)  I'm so happy that they get to ride the same bus to school in the morning -- it's nice for my little one to have her big sister there to watch out for her!  They have different buses in the afternoon (not sure why...) and this afternoon I took some time off from work to get home in time to meet them.  Of course, they were each late (always happens on the first day) -- my eldest daughter's bus was about 15 minutes late and my little one's bus was 30 minutes late!  I sat out on the front step for about an hour total waiting for both of the girls -- armed with my video camera again, of course!  It was so nice to be home early and to be there to greet them and hear about their days.  We went through their book bags, pulled out the things that need to be signed and sent back tomorrow, cleaned out their lunch boxes and got them ready for tomorrow.  Then we went upstairs so they could change into play clothes and I sat on the floor of my little one's room and cleaned out her dresser (hadn't gotten to that yesterday!).  We bought her a set of hanging "shelves" for her closet -- one of those soft-sided organizers that hangs from the curtain rod and has 6 shelves/cubbies.  She and I picked out outfits to get her through the rest of this week and the beginning of next -- outfit, underwear, shoes, etc. all set!  What a time saver that will be!  We had dinner a little earlier tonight, we read a book together before bedtime and we said our prayers and they were all tucked in on time with no running around and no chaos.  The dishes are done, the house is straightened up and we're ready for tomorrow -- oh, how I would love to get home early every day!!

Pencil Vase

To brighten up the breakfast table for the first day of school, I put together this little pencil vase with some sunflowers -- I tried to do this last year and didn't have enough pencils.  I bought 2 more packs when they were on sale this summer, but could still use a couple more to really fill it in!  I took an empty soup can and taped the pencils into place and then tied a sunflower ribbon around my "vase".  I think I'll look for some cute "school-themed" ribbon for next year!  I like to do a little here and there to make things special for my girls, and I love that they take notice!  My little one asked her sister this morning, "Are those PENCILS?"  And my elder daughter said, "Yes" and my little one said, "Are those pencils with their NAILS CUT?"  What a cute, funny way to look at it!  

Reading Nook

This year for our little one’s 6^th birthday, we decided to create a reading nook for her in her bedroom. Bless her little heart; she fell in love with this “bling-y”, pink beaded lamp at Target (I believe that Mommy’s love of interior decorating is starting to rub off on her girls!). For months, every time we went to Target, she would ask if we could go look at the lamp! 

So, we bought the lamp for her birthday and we also bought a cute, pink flowered beanbag chair to go in her room. Gramby and Grandpa bought her a sweet little table – just the right size for the reading nook! She was very excited to open those three items on her birthday (in addition to presents from her other grandmothers, and her great aunt – Merida’s (from Disney’s movie “Brave”) suction-cup bow and arrow was also a big hit!) and the next day I quickly set up her reading nook. She had some room between the foot of her bed and her bedroom wall, and that was where I arranged the beanbag chair, the little table, the lamp, and a basket of books. 

Now she has a cozy little spot to curl up and read books to herself or to her favorite toys! She started to learn to read last year in kindergarten and we are happy to do anything we can to encourage a love of reading! We’re anxious to see her reading skills blossom this year in first grade!

Chalkboard Reminders

How cute is this??  It's actually a chalkboard cheese tray that my  friend Jeanine thoughtfully brought me when she came to a party at our house.  I absolutely love it, and will use it when I entertain, but we really don't entertain as often as we used to -- so I came up with an alternative every day use for it!  I had an extra plate holder (about $4 from Hobby Lobby) and I have it on the kitchen counter near the sink.  It is GREAT for writing notes on -- like yesterday's, "Last lesson!  Don't forget your clarinet!"  And things like that...  It will also come in handy to leave notes for my dad when he's watching the girls -- I'm always looking for paper and a pen to leave him reminders.  And when I want to use it for a party, I can wash it and it will be all ready!

I LOVE things like this -- multi-purpose, and super stylish!

Quick Remodel - Bedroom for Our Littlest Princess

On Friday, all four of us were off - my husband and I were off from work and the girls were off from school. At dinner a few nights prior, we discussed as a family what we would do with this special day. Here's how the conversation went, Mommy, "How about we go to the zoo?" Daddy, "Oh, that would be fun!" Eleven year old, "Let's clean the basement!!" (She wants to make an art studio down there -- prior to this you could hardly get her down there to grab a roll of paper towels...) Five year old, "Let's rearrange my room!" Talk about your role reversals... We decided to rearrange our youngest daughter's room (it was rainy and snowy on Friday) because it was a relatively easy task -- we'll save the basement project for another day!

We started around 9:00am and began by emptying the room -- the other bedrooms upstairs were suddenly overrun with stuffed animals, etc. We pulled everything but the bed and dresser out -- even the 2 area rugs came out. We vacuumed the whole room -- corners of walls, up to the ceilings -- everything. And we also dusted everything thoroughly before bringing it back in. Our girlie's room is the smallest of the upstairs bedrooms (downstairs we have a guest room and a very small bedroom that is my husband's office) and she has a beautiful full-sized bed which takes up a lot of room. We were limited on where we could move the bed -- we were trying to maximize her play area -- so we flipped it from where it had been, 180 degrees in the opposite direction. We moved her dresser (which had been at the foot of her bed) over next to her closet. We downsized the amount of stuffed animals -- some are going to be donated, a few were put in her "special box" in the basement (a tub full of mementos) and the rest into her toy box. She tried to negotiate sending some over to Grandpa's house, but we didn't go for that idea (they'll only end up back here - smuggled by her one at a time!). We decided to take her nightstand out of the room -- it had previously been used to hold a pile of toys... We also had to take the glider out to give her more room. I told my husband that we'd have to find a place for it somewhere in the house -- I said, "I can't give it away! I rocked both of my babies in that glider!" And then I said, "Do you see the tears starting?" Because truly, my eyes were welling up... And he said, "Don't worry, you don't have to give it away -- we'll figure out a place for it!" Not sure where that's going to be -- but we'll figure it out! (I'm a little sentimental...) :)

We re-hung everything that had been in her room, and we didn't buy anything new -- we'd like to get her a couple of things for this little reading "nook" at the end of her bed -- a bean bag chair, a lamp -- ultimately I'd like to install a little, girlie chandelier in the corner, but that will involve an electrician. We thought it was cute to hang the Tigger cross-stitch that Nana made over the chair with all of the Winnie the Pooh stuffed animals!

Really the only "new" addition to the room is just something that I pulled out of her closet, and it's my favorite item in the room -- I took a sweet little Disney princess dress that I had bought her when she was a baby and I hung it on a cute satin hanger and we hung it up on the wall next to her window. I think it's such a darling idea, adds to the "princess theme" and it's a nice way to easily showcase a special item that might otherwise be sitting in a box or the back of a closet. We re-hung her little mirror, this time over her dresser -- she's not tall enough to look in it today (standing in front of it) but soon enough! :( And over the mirror we hung a little pink princess sign.

She was very excited about her new bedroom! And after 7 nights of bunking in our eldest daughter's room, the two girls moved the February Recess Sleepover Party into our little girl's room for the past two nights! Tomorrow they are back to school, so tonight they are sleeping in their own beds! It's fun to freshen things up and move things around when you have a free day. We spent no money on this change, but just moving the furniture around, rearranging the decorations and even pulling the little princess dress out and hanging that on the wall, made a huge impact! Let the Spring Cleaning begin!

Ready for Halloween

Is it just me or does October seem like it is almost as long as March this year? And don't get me wrong -- I LOVE the fall, so I'd prefer October last as long as possible, but it seems as though we should have already celebrated Halloween! I don't know if I am feeling this way because I decorated for Halloween and brought out the Halloween videos at the end of September (probably), or if it's because I'm itching to get out my Thanksgiving swag out to put up in place of my black spider lights... And some of our relatives from Long Island are planning to come out for Thanksgiving -- I'm already looking at recipes and thinking about decorating and fun crafts for the kids. Of course we'll probably make our traditional Pilgrim Hat Cookies, but I'd like to find another fun activity for the kids, too!

So for now we are anxiously awaiting Halloween and enjoying this beautiful autumn season!

Chalkboard Art

I have had this blank space in my living room that I just could not fill. At one point, our treadmill was there – not pretty. That moved downstairs. I have large portraits of my girls that are on one of the walls in there, I have a beautiful stained glass mirror that my aunt made us for a wedding gift, and a wrought iron wall hanging. A couple of weeks ago, right around the time that I spruced up my daughters’ old dresser, I thought of finding a chalkboard to hang above the dresser in the living room. I found a great one at (my favorite!) Hobby Lobby for only $12! I refrained from spending $9 on the pretty chalkboard markers (maybe Santa will bring those to me for Christmas!). I have been collecting some quotes and have been writing a quote or a message on the chalkboard to fit whatever is going on in our home. We just went to the Genesee Country Village for Laura Ingalls Wilder Day last weekend, so we still have “Home is the nicest word there is” – Laura Ingalls Wilder up there. When we got home from Niagara Falls, I quickly jotted, “Home again, home again, jiggity-jig” which is from a nursery rhyme. The week that the final Harry Potter movie came out in theaters, I wrote, “It is our choices…that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” – J.K. Rowling (spoken by Albus Dumbledore). This is an inexpensive piece of “art” for the home – I plan on sprucing my chalkboard up with some thicker molding and some decorative paper (I’ll be sure to take pictures!). But regardless of how fancy it is, I plan to have it always changing to reflect what is going on in our lives, and to hopefully entertain and inspire my girls. So far they are getting as much of a kick out of it as Mommy is! ;)