GUEST BATH REFRESH

My little guest bath, off of the family room and my office, has already had a makeover or two. The last one was revealed in November of last year. And while I still love the look and feel of the new room, the white sheers aren't very practical. 

To be honest, I had zero plans to change anything in there. But when I saw a cute shower curtain at Ross, I decided a little freshening nary hurt a loo.

Isn't it pretty? And the colors already match everything I have going on in there. White shelves, white paneling, and a yellow and gray canvas from Hobby Lobby.  You can see it here from the original reveal post.

I am spending this week deep cleaning that little bath, including caulking and touch-up paint... When it's complete, I will post some new photos! 

All this Fall cleaning is coming just in time - as I am hosting a baby shower on the 29th. I haven't had guests all summer, so I am looking forward to this! :D

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

What he said...

My kids can tell you - one of my favorite sayings is "Always be prepared." Do they live by it? No. Not even close to a 1/4 of the time, but they remember it. I don't know about you, but when I am prepared, I can pretty much handle anything. How do you prepare for the unexpected, one might ask. I say by covering the basics.

• Budget
• Savings Account
• Basic household supplies (toilet paper, soap, laundry detergent, etc)
• Gas (for the vehicles)
• To-Do lists
• Extra school supplies
• Small pantry stock-pile
• An extra bag of dog food
• Clean under-roos

I could probably go on - but I think my list is a great example of things to always have on hand. To explain that backwards, if I don't have a written budget, I stress. If I don't have a little bit of money in a savings account, I stress. If we run out of toilet paper or clean under-roos, I stress. Let me share further by saying if I run out of paper towels, no biggie. If I run out of milk, eh. If I run out of clean sheets, I'd be bummed, but it wouldn't ruin my day. There are just some items that as long as we have them on hand, I am good. I can function. I feel prepared.

With back to school behind us now, I am catching myself using my mantra quite a bit... Sometimes I feel like I need to drive it into my oldest one's thick skull. But sometimes it's me... and I need to pull myself aside and refocus.

Life is so much easier when you are prepared for the expected and somewhat prepared for the unexpected.

Like Benjamin Franklin said, "By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail."

I hate being in that boat.

And the boys are back to school, too.

Last week was my first week where I didn't have kiddos hanging on me while I worked. Because the boys are back in school!

And with that, things are moving right along! The craziness has started. I am barely coping. But that's a whole nuther story.

I have a Freshman

 

She stayed up last night to prepare her book bag. She woke up with butterflies in her tummy. She went off with her friends to experience new adventures.

I can't wait to hear about her day. :D 15 minutes and counting.

My Meatball Recipe

I love meatballs. I do. I prefer them made out of ground turkey with spinach mixed in. But every once in a while, I make them from ground beef. I only buy ground beef from Costco. That's my first secret. My second secret?

French's Fried Onions. They help with adding taste & texture. In the past, I've used bread crumbs and Saltine Crackers, but I've found the fried onions taste the best.

In a large bowl, I mix the ground beef (about a pound), seasonings (Salt, Pepper, Garlic, Oregano, Parmesan Cheese and Worcestershire sauce), and one large egg (helps to bind). If you don't have fried onions, use a real onion, diced - and either bread crumbs or crackers. For me, the fried onions cuts down on an ingredient. Love that! ;)

I then combine all of the ingredients and mold my mixture into decent sized (not too large) balls. (No, I did not type that with a straight face.) I add them to a heated pan, with Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

I then brown them, cover and cook them until they are done. About 10 minutes or so. And that's it! Super easy and super tasty!

This time I paired the meatballs with pasta and red sauce. A quick dinner that everyone loves.

A Tale of Two Spideys

Nico received a Spider Man mask for his birthday. And a second one for Christmas. He loves costumes!
The weather was kinda perfect this weekend... so I made the kids go out to play.

Nico was excited to see a few kids at the park and immediately went to grab his masks in hopes that they would play with him. Of course, by the time he got there, the parents were pulling the kids away. :(

That just about broke my heart. But, Alex stepped in - ran over to the park - and proceeded to engage his brother in some Spidey fighting.

They spent a good while out there - special quality time between brothers.

I love that Nic likes to dress-up in costume! I hope he stays like this for a long time to come!

Our Very Merry Christmas | 2012

I like to think that everyone enjoyed their Christmas this year. While it was the first without my grandpa - and that was hard - we still were blessed to have my grandma join us again for Christmas morning. As per usual, Mom made fab food and I provided the OJ. ;) Okay, I did make breakfast burritos.

If you remember last year - we had a new puppy for Christmas (well, we got her the week before). She's now a year old and still so cute. She's the lighter one and Ellis is her sister (not real sisters, but you know what I mean).

To add to the fun, my parents brought along their new puppies!! Jack B (as in Jack Bauer, as in 24) and Zoey are about 8 weeks old and are lab mixes.

They went in for Zoey - and came out with Jack, too. Jack was the runt of the litter, and they couldn't pass him up!

All-in-all, people were spoiled, loved, and filled with Joy. Which makes for a pretty perfect Christmas.