Vampires?

Black Friday is one of my favorite days of the year. I don't enjoy crowds so I'm certainly not out shopping but I am home getting out Christmas decorations. In addition, I get to eat my favorite leftovers all day. This year started off at 5am with a terrible sinus headache so I got up and had some Sudafed. Do we all know where this post is headed now? Yes, Sudafed crazy! Just what I needed to get this house ready for Christmas. The first year is always a challenge, figuring out where to put everything and this house has a lot of space to fill. I'm trying not to buy anything new but caved in a bought a cheap rustic star to fill a big empty wall in the kitchen. I'll post photos after everything is set. Anyway, I spent all day working around the house and putting lights outside, which may be the last thing I do outside ever. I have a photo but it's not showing up in photo stream so just picture it in your mind: a snake the size of a big worm!

Edited to insert very important photo of freaky snake:

On my sidewalk! The only reason I didn't run inside screaming was because I had on big boots and it was moving really slowly. Don't worry, I will never put up Christmas lights again… in fact, I will just leave these ones up year round now…

Another thing that kept me working all day Friday was some spotty internet service. It just wasn't worth it to try and procrastinate on the computer. Sean's business internet was fine until he started working at 5pm and then we heard some football language. He kept trying to call the internet people but then his cell phone would lose coverage in the basement. Wow, good times. I know Sean was thinking about moving back into the old house at this point. We can! It's still there! And everything is fixed and working there now. I digress.

Long story short, I've got the internet guy in my house, all the way from Topeka at 10pm. Since I've had Sudafed only 17 hours prior, I am still going strong and the decorating is in full swing. Megan and Anna were up too, even when the guy left at 11pm to go meet his internet fixing buddy down at the "trunk", which is more at the neighborhood level, not the house level. Sean kept explaining to them that he had to work that night still, so get it done. And then us girls were milling around the house, not getting ready for bed. Why, it's my favorite part of the vampire books come true… they don't need to sleep, they are up all night! Just think of everything I could get done!

Day two of decorating not as successful. No Sudafed necessary today so now I will just have to put everything away that I didn't use. Maybe next year… we leave in 3 weeks for Virginia, this is just a half season this year anyway. I did do some shopping today at least, small business Saturday. I much prefer that… not crowded and I can hit some rare sales at these local shops. Sean missing a shift last night did not help the Christmas budget though. Since I didn't force the kids to watch the Thanksgiving day parade on TV, they missed the commercials and don't know what to beg for anyway.

We did have our Elf reappear and Sean was explaining the rules to Emily and then he could hear her explaining it to Patrick. Patrick scoffed and told her that he KNOWS the rules. She is very concerned that Jack is going to be in the sink one of these mornings. No, our Elf isn't that creative. We have plenty of shelves in this house to try out...

Thanksgiving and projects

Another Thanksgiving with Sean working some shifts and thus having the big meal on our own at home. I make the same stuff every year and the kids reject it every year. This year they all ate turkey but I tricked them and didn't make rolls, forcing them to try something else. We don't need rolls when we have LaLa's stuffing (and potatoes and sweet potatoes… I think we have carbs covered). I used Barefoot Contessa recipes and paid the price for going organic this year. I am finding that in general we eat a lot less meat now that I buy the organic stuff. I can't bear to waste any of it so I buy less and make them eat every scrap. This is the first time I've found an organic turkey and it was $40 so I am now using the remains to make broth. I found a post online about 7 day bone broth which is supposed to be really healthy. I think that means the kids will hate it. The lady talks about how her broth gels up and she eats a spoonful of the gelled stuff every morning. Err, what? No, I want to make turkey noodle soup with it. I am working on my third day of it and I am certain that everyone is sick of the smell. We won't make it all 7 days…

Well, let's review the photos and see what we accomplished this long, long weekend.

 Wow, now this is exciting. I had just read on Humans of New York a story from a lady who talked about the magic in her life including how the day she met her husband he cracked three eggs for breakfast and they were all double yolks, supposedly symbolizing his three broken engagements before he met her. I don't understand either but it did make me think how I've only seen one double yolk before and then… three eggs for LaLa's stuffing and all three were double yolks. What the what?! I think it symbolizing the three things that broke this week… hot tub leaking, internet down (for Sean's shift last night which is a whole other post), and a gutter may be broken. Magic, I'm telling you. In my bowl!

 I am ever so thankful for the dish fairy… Sean did clean up the second round.

 Kids rejected it all… I have eaten it nonstop for three days, love it.

 Fuzzy but you can still see the thumbs down/thumbs up from Emily. (Side note: the kids set the table, someday I will have a fancy decorated table but not this year.)

 I'm going to eat none of this...

Megan ate the most so maybe someday her siblings will try stuff too…

Adventures in chaos this week

I've been reading various health blogs lately and picking up easy tips for ways to eat better. Mostly I love the posts about stuff I already do, ha. Love green tea, don't like soda, WINNER! Well, this past week I found an alternative way to make popcorn healthier and it kind of worked (thanks Cheryl!). First I ordered hemp seed and red palm oil. Then I used my popper to make the popcorn with grape seed oil. The red palm oil is melted and poured on like butter and it did totally fool the kids, tastes great. The hemp seed was spied by Anna and refused but Patrick and Emily didn't notice. I put that in the food processor with some sea salt to sprinkle on and it just gives it a slightly nutty flavor that you don't notice unless you are Anna. She had suffered from the hemp seed surprise in the smoothie that morning, which was a disaster. Wrong flavor for sweet smoothie and definitely had too much texture for them. I choked it down though, but only once.

 That's right, I have Star Wars china. Or plastic.

 Here is Patrick, totally fooled. The part that I didn't like was the sticky hands and face. It really does taste good though and obviously way better for you than microwave popcorn which we will try to avoid from now on.

 Oh, this is what I bought when I meant to get buttermilk for pancakes. I was all ready to go this morning and assumed that this was a fancy way to say buttermilk since they were shelved together at the store, but no, it is some sort of probiotic milk. I used it anyway, it worked, kids didn't notice. Anyone drink this stuff? Maybe it is good for them?

 This is the red palm oil… it does say it stains utensils so I assume it would also stain clothing…

 Oh here we go, there was wallpaper behind the toilet. Wow. Someone really put a lot of effort into this house at some point, I am impressed. I doubt I will ever use wallpaper, but twenty years ago this was all the rage of course. Today is no water day with the plumbers here. It was supposed to be two hours but here it is, 1pm and I am still not showered or anything. I was going to swim and then shower. Oh well, pick up at school is going to be scary, sorry kids.

I might just leave these here for the winter with kids… Well, back to picking out lights and fixtures and mirrors. My kind of obsession!

What did we do this week?

I've already forgotten what we did this week so I thought I'd review my photostream. 

 Oh yes, I moved all the furniture out of my bedroom by myself, with my big muscles and my sliders. This is why I quit the gym. Moving has been quite the workout. Now say goodbye to all that oak trim. It's already gone. I will spare you the "before" photos of the bathroom until I can post along with the "after" photos.

 Oh but here's a during photo, so exciting...

 Not sure why they put the toilet in Sean's closet but I'm glad it wasn't put in mine, ha. I guess they didn't want to toss it off the balcony like they did with everything else.

I keep forgetting I have that balcony off our bathroom. I have big plans for that sunroom, but that will be our last project someday...

This is where the steam shower is going, use your imagination for the next 6 weeks...

 Sean and I decided to get out one night when we didn't have kid sports or a moonlighting shift. So excited that Harry's people opened up another restaurant downtown, Bourbon and Baker. Mostly tapas style dishes. And yes, I took photos, I don't care that it's uncool.

 Cornbread slider with pulled pork. Going back for another. We ate the Kobe slider so fast that I couldn't get a shot of that. Sean is going back for two of those.

 The froo-froo items I suggested we try. Normally I prefer froo-froo but these weren't as good as the more comfort food type items. I mean, I clearly still ate them…

 Chicken and biscuit. Sean got a call during this portion of the meal so I may have taken advantage and eaten more than I intended...

 I really can't wait for the bakery portion to be open all day because this cake is literally the opposite of the Dillon's cakes that the kids get for their birthdays. It was hard to put down the fork and take this shot. But I was strong and did it for the blog.

 Sean got the milk and cookies, just as good as the cake.

I also went to Emily's Thanksgiving program at preschool on Thursday. She doesn't have school this upcoming week so this kind of took me by surprise. But I made it and taped the songs for Sean to see later. Emily so proud.

 24 degrees out, rocking the Easter dress and winter hat. Thumbs up, baby.

 Same Easter dress two days later, hanging in one of the last boxes I unpacked. Yes, I am DONE. Buy me a trophy, all cardboard is out of the house! I organized every last speck of kid crappity-crap junk. Found ways to display all their treasures, sorted all their clothes, went through all their papers. DONE. Still waiting on their dressers to arrive but in the meantime I've found other ways to store their clothes. And this was after I moved everything out of the master suite, no small task. Cold weather is good, keeps me inside and working.

 Poor Beyonce, too cold outside so she is now pecking at the sunroom door. I'm loving the convenience of staying in the guest suite on the first floor while we remodel. Patrick still finds us at 6:20am to ask us where the silver iPad is however.

The girls' study area between their bedrooms. It's just recycled old furniture but it functions and all the junk is gone, so looks done to me. I am hoping that now that the rooms are settled it will inspire the kids to keep them looking nice. They have no one to blame for the mess but themselves now...

Emily is NOT a baby

Wow, the Honest Toddler was spot on when she said that the greatest insult to a child is calling her a baby. Emily gets so furious when I call her that, as a term of endearment. I not a baby! Of course it doesn't help that her siblings call her a baby as an insult. I can't tell you how many times I get into the car and find Emily sobbing because one of them called her a baby. Most likely because they are mad that she isn't buckling herself and they have to help. That task is mood related. She sometimes can do it. Anyway, she will always be my baby and she sure doesn't mind when I carry her still. In fact, she often plants her feet in front of me and demands to be carried. I tired! Well, the baby is now four and we celebrated with a pool party with a few friends. She kept asking me if her friends from school were coming. Umm, well, one of them… no way was I inviting 12 preschoolers over to swim, that would be a stressful party. Apparently I didn't take any photos during the swim part, started with the fancy cake...

 Exactly what she wanted from Dillons. I hope they are satisfied with a $21.99 cake for many years….

 Mmmm, looks pinkalicious! (side note, I did not choose the paint color for this room)

 Oh, sorry, that wish for a dog isn't coming true.

 Pink teeth, pink face.

 Emily was the best present receiver ever. Every gift was "awesome" and she loved every part of it.

 My Little Pony, awesome!!!

 Emily almost didn't know how to unwrap an actual wrapped box. I am a big lazy fan of gift bags myself, this was a treat.

 There you go, just toss that tissue paper around. Your OCD mother will come gather it later and save it for the next occasion. Seriously, I have a problem.

 When I asked Emily what she wanted for her birthday the only thing she could think of was a heart pillow. Umm, what? She explained that she wanted one like Megan has. Oh yes, one of the many random things littered about Megan's room is some heart pillow. I mentioned it to Megan and she said Emily could have it so we wrapped it up. She was thrilled as you can see. And now it is on her bed instead of Megan's floor. This is what happens when kids don't get to watch commercials: they don't know what toys to beg for. She watches plenty of shows, but only on Netflix, without commercials. Of course if she had asked for a Barbie I could have just plucked one from the crate of Barbies in the basement storage. We haven't unpacked the toys and they haven't noticed. Well, except for Patrick's Legoland. I let him keep that because he is obsessive about arranging it and keeping it neat. That's my boy!

Okay, she did get her birthday wish: two puppies! She named one Pete and one Comfy. She loves to point out dogs that are "comfy" all the time,  in an alarming way. My, that dog looks so comfy… as in, would make a great daytime bathrobe. She later renamed one of them Roxie after Anna suggested it. Roxie is a very famous dog who convinced Anna to take piano lessons so she could pet her while Megan had her lesson. This is all the Roxie we need, sorry Heather!

It's a school day!

She was hiding from the sun but still happy to get up and go to school. At least one of them is happy to get up and go!

Thanks pinterest (and Sweatpants and a Mini-van) for getting it started

I don't know if anyone has noticed that I'm sort of excited about the new house. There will be a LOT of posts about the stuff I'm doing around here. This is the project I've been preparing for many years now. And now it is almost time to put up Christmas stuff! Almost. But, today is warm and sunny and I'd rather put stuff outside now than on days like we had earlier in the week. Bitter. Frigid. Winter. So today I cut some greens from my lot (which literally 97 people drove by and saw me and thought I was crazy.... trimming trees in the wooded lot? No, not trimming... harvesting greenery!) I pulled the dead summer stuff out of the window boxes and big pots and jammed this stuff in. So far it hasn't blown away in the gale winds and we'll see how long until it turns brown. If it does, I can get more. So much cheaper than buying the faux stuff. I will add more color and bling to it once we hit Black Friday and I feel it's legal to go all out Christmas.

 In the woods with my basket of trimmings and my big finger over the lens.

 The trees that needed trimming. And my finger. I'm so good at this.

 Just the greenery and sticks look... will add the fun stuff next. Pinterest has so many example for me to copy and that's just how I work. Not original but I can find great stuff to copy!

Here are the window boxes. I did add in big pinecones and red berries already because this looked kind of random. Now I'm trying to figure out lanterns and candles in the windows. I decided that wreaths on every window would look fabulous but in the wind there would be a lot of scratching and banging and it would freak the kids out. So I will think of something else. The only thing that should be scratching and banging on the window is an Elf!!

Thanksgiving Stuffing (for Lisa)

Hope I'm not giving away any Keenan family secrets here, but this is LaLa's Stuffing and we make it every year now. Lisa needed a good one and I figured if I was going to type it up, may as well put it here:

Fry together:
1 and 1/2 chopped onions
1 pound of sausage (Jimmy Dean regular, some go spicy, not me)

Then cut up a loaf of white bread into squares. I use my bread. Add to it:
1/4 cup melted butter
3 eggs slightly beaten
2 cups of mashed potatoes (I sometimes don't make mashed potatoes as a separate side then, this is like multi-tasking food here)
2 teaspoons of sage
salt and pepper to taste

Mix everything together and then put it in a greased baking dish and cover to bake for about 45 minutes (I am assuming at 350, whatever you have the oven on for baking other side dishes should be fine). Bake longer if you made ahead of time and had in the fridge.

This is my first year with double ovens, I am super excited. Not that anyone is eating with us (anyone want to come over?) but I still make the full meal and we eat for days. Well, except for the kids who are so picky...

Library update on the crazy

Andrea suggested I class up the library with my kid book collection. Well, I already used those random books on the wall that isn't in full view of the foyer. I did have to use the library for some practical purposes too. The kids have the books that are at their current reading level in their own rooms so these are the in between books. And what do people do with CDs anymore?! I even have some mixed tapes tucked away too, now the kids really don't know what those are. Anyway, this is not the look I want for the library but it's not that visible and it will stay for a while. Pretty much everything in this house is temporary now as I play around and prepare for the remodel.

 I have all the photo albums together now, everything all organized. I feel like I never fully unpacked in the old house and I vowed to have no boxes tucked away in this house. I have unloaded a lot of stuff I didn't need for this house to the Budget Shop by the Catholic school. They give the profits to the church and they give vouchers to the emergency shelter so people living there can come "shop" for stuff. I've learned that some other places are not run in ways I support so I'm glad to have found this place. I also see Patrick on the playground when I drop stuff off right before school is dismissed and that freaks him out.

Anyway, this is what I have for the other wall, the one directly facing the foyer that everyone sees the minute they walk in. I will move the random decor elsewhere of course and finish up the shelves with more books in a few weeks when they've restocked at the store. This is a room that I thought probably wouldn't get a lot of use. We have the hearth room and formal living on this floor too, kind of excessive  I know, but this is the most popular room now. I can shut the French doors to it to make it quiet (or keep the noise in) and the sun makes it nice and warm. The kids actually read in here. What they do the most though is get on the computer. Lots of computer homework this year and then what I consider far too much gaming. That's a whole other post.

Overall I'm not sure what to do with the style of this library. The oak is almost as excessive as the computer gaming in this house and I need to decrease both. The trim and doors in here are dated, so I am working on a plan to replace the doors and stain it all darker or something? I'd rather not rip it out and totally replace it, that seems kind of wasteful. I mean, I'm doing that in the kitchens and bathrooms but those are different kind of projects.... stay tuned for before shots of the master bath. And then by Christmas we hope to have the after shots!

p.s. I should point out that in the end I got a ton of books that my Mom will like to read! Lots of suspense and mystery ones by her favorite authors. I think someone had a book club membership for that genre because they all have similar bindings.

p.p.s. I had flashbacks to a Curious George episode when I was organizing books by color. Like a monkey, I think it looks better that way. No Dewey Decimal system going on here...

We've already established that I'm crazy

Now let's find out just how crazy.... I went and bought the cheapest hardcover books I could find and I think I'm going back for more. I have a big empty library with a lot of oak showing, I need to cover that up with books, not the random decor I put there while I got settled.

 Ready for their covers to be removed... much nicer without them.

I have a small bookcase full in the hearth room already but in general I haven't kept a lot of books that look nice. I recall Krauts and Stouts mentioning "books by the foot" online so I looked that up to find out pricing. Just glad to know I am not the only one filling her house with random books just for looks, it's quite a business. I figured that shipping might get kind of pricy so I went to check out our used bookstore here. They had a little section out on the sidewalk with $1 books. So I started loading those up and then the kind lady started pulling books from the back. A car load later (along with some donuts) I was home sorting and marveling at what deals I got. Actually it was kind of sad how people worked so hard to write those books and it has come to this... decoration. There were some gems tucked in....

 Oh yeah, you know it's true when they put that on the cover.

 Unfortunately this one had some mildew so I had to throw it away. Talk about a conversation piece!

 Oh dear, I paid a whole dollar for this??

This will come in so handy when it's time to help Megan with sixth grade math. I will defeat you, IXL!

I tried to sneak this project in while Sean was working a shift but he caught me. I just gave him another donut and he wandered back downstairs, rolling his eyes no doubt. At least I didn't order them online and pay a lot more! This means I can afford a whole other car load...