Housewife-ish.

What's the point..

2010-07-03T12:42:00.001-07:00

I love all the blogs I visit. I am obsessed with checking in on a few, specifically House of Smiths, Crap I've Made, and The Lettered Cottage to name just a few. I've gotten to the point where I'm envious of their success and that's just silly. Everyone starts small and that's okay. I need to be happy with just ME writing to please ME rather than worrying about if I even have one reader at all. I also need to concentrate on writing each day, to chronicle our lives so I can look back at all the fun we've had over time. I don't know what I want this blog to be, I'd love to have a gorgeous design blog, but I also want to write about my day, my kids, the craziness that ensues. We'll see what happens.

As for today, we had fun in a homemade slip and slide out in the yard. I even convinced Hubby to go for it. It was a blast :) Now I'm working on the boys room (taking a late lunch break). I want to give them a super cool Star Wars inspired room a la Pottery Barn:

And here's what we have to work with:

Obviously a far way to go!

Eventually, we want to build bunk beds into the closet, however at the moment we are lacking on time. My parents come to visit in a week and we need to get something set up so my brother has somewhere to sleep, well, other than our loveseat ;)

It's been a long, long time!

2010-06-24T17:04:00.000-07:00

But I'm back! At least for today anyway. I'd like to show you around my new home! We have been here around three weeks. The house buying process was a bear. We had a short sale that we love, love, loved, but it fell through last minute. We went on a house looking binge one day, and that night I came home to find our (now) home on the market! We looked at it the day after it came up and put a bid on it that afternoon. We love it! My hubby went away to Las Vegas for a trip shortly after moving in and my friend(my fantastically awesome and amazing and talented friend might I add) and I did a lot of work while he was gone. I'm going to show off just the bottom level, because the top is hardly touched (although I may have to show off the guest room and the bathroom sooner than the rest.

Here we go!

Living room, before!

Living Room, as of now!

So in the Living Room, we basically painted a great color, Sunken Pool by Martha Stewart. I love, love the color. It reminds me of Tiffany Box Blue and brings so much light into the room. My couch, chair, and ottoman are all from Ikea and I love them. My mom crocheted my gorgeous blue blanket. The curtains are the fabulous drop clothes from Home Depot! (got 'em on sale, two for 10 dollars! steal!).

Dining Room, Before!

Dining Room After!

In the Dining Room we painted the paneling and pulled up the carpet to reveal gorgeous wood! That is NOT the table we will be keeping, but just one I used for our housewarming party so I figured it'd look cute staged as a dining room table. I shabby'ed up the chairs and have a few more I need to work on. The color in here is a mix of Cool Cucumber from Glidden and Whitened Sage by Behr

Kitchen, Before!

Kitchen After!

In the kitchen we painted the cabinets and painted the 80s peach plastic tile. Eventually I want to paint the ceiling fan white, and the walls a different color, but I did what I could in a week.. haha.

Laundry Room/Bathroom Before!

Laundry Room/Bathroom After!

Not too much has changed back here yet.. but it will! We did put a wall up to separate the bathroom from the laundry room. Prior if you wanted to get to the back yard you had to walk through the open space of the laundry/bathroom.. sort of awkward if someone is in the bathroom and you need to go outside! haha! Eventually I want to do black beadboard in the bathroom and black checkerboard on the floor to make it sort of retro/country/funky. So go Hubby for building that gorgeous wall and door..

House hunting!

2009-11-12T17:02:00.001-08:00

Ahhh house buying. It's an exciting yet sort of nerve wracking and stressful at the same time. I'm so blessed to be in the position that we can purchase a home... over two years ago when Jeremy was diagnosed with cancer I thought normalcy would never really come.. and I feel like maybe it finally has.

We are looking at some homes on Sunday. I can't wait. I had found the perfect home, beautiful home from the 1900s, brand new kitchen and bath with three bedrooms, right across the alley from one of my favorite families! But sadly it looks like this may not happen now. So now we have four homes to look at and I'm excited about each of them for various reasons. We shall see! Only time will tell.

Rally Momma

2009-11-07T09:54:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone,

Went to DC on Thursday. It was pretty amazing to be down with a bunch of other TEA party participants. We should find out if we had an effect today. I sure hope so. It was really neat seeing how many moms were down there. I'm a member of As a Mom.com and there was a strong presence of moms from AAM so that was great.

The boys had fun down there, then we went to the Air and Space Museum. They absolutely loved that.

By the end of the day I was WORN out.

I refuse!

2009-10-27T16:38:00.000-07:00

... to let this blog die!

I'm a bit of a, starter but not finisher. I tend to start lots of fun projects, none of which I finish, and I refuse to do the same with this blog. Who cares if I have no readers! I want to continue this thing!

So what did I do today? My friend Erica and her two beautiful boys came over. I made a delicious bbq pizza for the boys, and Erica and I had ham & Swiss bagel sandwiches. Yumo. We then went out to go letterboxing. It was fun, although it was very, very wet. My shoes were totally 'squishing' at the end of it all! We were able to find one of the letterboxes, but not the other one.

Tonight, we finished up some homeschooling. We didn't do the entire day, but we did some of it plus some extras. We worked on 1-numbers, and 1+numbers.. which was great. Ry did a really great job. He used his number line as well as his fingers. He also realized that I doubled the questions so he went through and found the matching equation to write down the answer for the double. I thought that was pretty smart of him.

Harry is finally starting to understand potty training a little bit. It will be a while before he is really potty trained, but that's okay. I'm the type of mom who does not stress about potty training before three. It will happen when it happens.

What would Jesus do?

2009-10-14T17:40:00.000-07:00

So here I am, I'm trying to consider each situation and truly ask myself... What would Jesus Do?

The problem is, I just can't for the life of me figure out what Jesus would have done with my afternoon.

Today was a fine day.. everything was going rather well. Mr Banana Pants was napping, Ry was working on school work, so I decided to dye my hair.. or at least put some new red color in my hair. I had it all set, when Ry says that he hears that Harry is up. He runs upstairs to open the door for Harry... then I hear it.. the dreaded... MOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM Harry pooped! I knew it. Gosh darnit. So I run upstairs (with the red dye in m hair) and see that yes, of course, he pooped and rubbed it all over the floor, walls, and his pants are missing. I grabbed him, holding him of course away from my body, and put him in the bathtub. I turn around, and Ry has black marker all over his face...and I thought to myself... What would Jesus do..?

Really.. honestly.... what the heck would Jesus do in this situation, with His hair dye in his hair, the house smelling of poop, a kid in the shower and one with black marker all over his face?

Got any ideas? :)

Pumpkin Patch!

2009-10-12T19:13:00.000-07:00

We went to the pumpkin patch! We had such a great time with another family. Enjoy the pics!

Yummy, yummy clothes pins

2009-10-08T18:42:00.001-07:00

I.must.make.these!

http://twiceremembered.blogspot.com/2009/07/make-your-monday-charming-custom_27.html

BEAUTIFUL!

Exploding box!

2009-10-08T09:14:00.001-07:00

I sooooo want to make this!

http://www.glitteradventure.blogspot.com/2006/11/exploding-box-class.html

Such a great idea. I think everyone will be getting one for Christmas!

Thankful Thursday

2009-10-08T06:42:00.000-07:00

Yay, it's Thankful Thursday!

Today I am thankful for:

1. That it seems Ry isn't really sick. He wasn't feeling well this morning but seems to have perked up!

2. Homeschooling has gone really well this week.

3. My hubby worked a little bit longer one evening and I was able to get some alone time. (Although Boo for Hubby having to work longer)

Pictures of our day!

2009-10-07T18:00:00.000-07:00

Here's some pictures from our first day of school!

Summary of the last two days..

2009-10-06T18:24:00.001-07:00

Here's what we've done the last two days. I'm hoping to keep a pretty good summary of Ry's work.. but we'll see.

Day 1.
Prayer list:
Buddy (his blanket)
Toys
Socks
Friends
Family

Recited the pledge and what day it is

We read Genesis 1:1
The point of this day's lesson was to learn how God is like Dad in that he loves us very much. God gave us the world as a gift.

Went over why he loves daddy
He drew a picture of him and his dad enjoying all sorts of things like flowers and sandwiches (not sure why sandwiches.. but.. he's four. haha)

He made a collage of things that remind him of his dad including:
A guy shaving
Brocoli
ikea
TV
a blue print (He likes to work!)
ice cream
and leaves (neither Jeremy or myself could figure out the leaves but that's okay haha)

We reviewed the triangle. Riley already knows all of his shapes. He did enjoy "PE" which included making triangles out of body parts

Day 2
Prayer
God (he's really into praying to thank God for God..)
Harry (Mr. Banana Pants)
Batman Glasses
Coloring books
Toys
His body
Dogs
and
His Clothes

We did the pledge and talked about what day it is

Went to the bookstore and read some books

Reviewed how to write his name as well as other names.

Reviewed how to write capital and lower case A

Reviewed 1's addition

Started 2's addition

Worked on word "reading" he solidly and consistantly knows cat, dog, Riley, Mom, Dad, Harry/Harrison

Also before bed we read Fun with Dick and Jane and he was sounding out most of the words correctly.

School's In for Fall

2009-10-06T13:20:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy few days here at our house.

We started homeschooling on Monday. It went really well over all. The worst part was trying to contain Mr. Banana Pants while Ry was trying to learn the lesson. Overall though, it seemed like Ry retained the information now. Basically the first lesson was discussing that God is our father and He gave us the world. We also went over what a triangle is. I'm feeling like he's going to get a bit bored if things don't get harder quickly. He already knows much of what the curriculum is teaching, but so far in looking forward it will get harder/deeper into the stuff he only knows on the surfact.

MWTh is going to be curriculum days and Tuesday and possibly Friday will be days we work strictly on Math and English (writing and spelling). Right now he is working on the 1's addition. We went over writing A's and his name, his brother's name and Mom and Dad. So far I'm pleased at what he's doing.

Yesterday I found the most amazing thing ever -- Banana Ice Cream! Yum-o! I will post pictures and the recipe later this evening when I find my camera.

Last night was my birhday dinner with some dear friends. I had a lot of fun. I hadn't been out with the 'girls' in a long time. I miss it a lot.

Coupons!

2009-10-02T06:46:00.001-07:00

I'm heading out today to purchase some items for homeschooling which starts on Monday... so of course, being the thrifty mama I am, I always look for coupons first.

I'm heading to A.C. Moore, enjoy this 40 percent off coupon!

And also to Michael's...

Here is a fabulous 20% off your entire purchase coupon.

And a 40% off any regularly priced item.

What a great day for cheap ladies!

Oh, and before I forget, one of my favorite money saving tips. I know it sounds funny, but I hardly ever go to A.C. Moore without a coupon, it's almost against my religion! But especially handy is when shopping around for birthday presents. Our A.C. Moore has a fabulous selection of one of my favorite toy brands: Melissa & Doug. Well, you can use a coupon on those items! It allows me, Ms. Thrifty Housewife-ish, to buy fabulous presents on a budget.

So off I go!

Thanks for reading

Thankful Thursday

2009-10-01T20:12:00.000-07:00

I know a lot of ladies do a Thankful Thursday type of thing, so I'd love to join in. Here's my first Thankful Thursday (although, it's almost Friday here!)

1. I'm thankful for a great doctor's appointment on Wednesday. My lovely hubby is cancer free as far as we know, and no more yucky PET scans unless there's something fishy.

2. My little banana pants (my youngest little boy) is speaking up a storm. At his two year appointment they suggested he receive speech therapy, but I felt like we needed to give him a little longer. He's really doing great now!

3. So thankful my hubby is being more and more supportive with homeschooling. I know it's hard for him to be supportive when he's not as involved as I am, but he's willing to try and that's great!

4. I'm thankful that my best friend just got married!

5. I'm thankful my grandma, who is 90!!! was doing well enough to see the kiddos last week when we were back home (we live far away from my family). She's having trouble with losing her breath a lot, but was able to have a great visit. She's an amazingly strong woman. She's 90 but is still living on her own, and up to about a month ago was still driving!

Thanks for reading!

I never realized I was a WWF ring girl..

2009-09-30T13:57:00.000-07:00

It must be the age. Or the gender. Or that my children are clinically insane. One of those options must be the reason that they are constantly, non stop, beating each other! My boys are ages 2 1/2 and 4 1/2 and they constantly rolling around, biting, pinching, forking (yes, poking each other with those darn Ikea plastic forks), and otherwise maming one another.

Now, don't get me wrong, I love that they have something to preoccupy their time, but I'm afraid someone is going to put an eye out. Wow. Now I'm my mother, that may be even more frightening than my kids going all WWF on each other.

Sheesh, moms, tell me this is normal!

Good doctor appointment, plus some cleaning tips!

2009-09-30T10:08:00.000-07:00

So my lovely hubby went for a check up. Long story short, he was diagnosed with cancer in 2007. Stage three melanoma. No fun, I tell ya! So he is now on a trial, has been over a year clean and we are celebrating a great doctor's appointment. He will be done with his trial in December! No more PET scans either, which to be honest both makes me a million times happier and scares the flowers out of me at the same time! It's scary because I won't have that definite proof he's cancer free. It makes me happy, though, because he won't be injected with all those insane chemicals. But for the most part, this housewife-ish lady is pretty pleased!

Now, on to fun topics!

I read about cleaning your sink with cinnamon, and I am a sucker for cinnamon so I tried it. It was fabulous. My whole kitchen was filled with the aroma and it was fabulous! I mixed a little table salt in with it to give it a nice grittiness to really clean the sink. Love it! So I tried it on my counter tops, even sprinkled some cinnamon on the carpets then vaccuumed it up! Yum-o

In other news, my two year old darling bundle of joy must be almost ready for potty training. He has decided, each and every day, to poop in his diaper, then spread it all over whatever is closest to him, be it a wall, or a dog, or his brother, or the carpet, whatev! So that's been an exciting time for me. Hopefully he potty trains quicker than his brother or I'm in trouble.

Always check the receipt

2009-09-29T09:50:00.000-07:00

With this blog, I'd love to share some tips and tricks that I've learned living on one income.

One of those tips is to always, always, always check your receipt. I know you've got your hands full, most likely with a cart full of food... and probably are towing around your kiddos, but it's so important!

Yesterday I went on my big grocery trip. I went to five different stores, with two kids, by myself. (Yes, I wanted to give myself a heart attack and a few gray hairs, thanks for asking!) I have shopping down to a science, basically. Anyway, so I was leaving Giant and so I checked out my receipt. Yep, a big error. They charged me 4.99 for a 5 lb bag of potatoes that were only supposed to be .99 cents! So I walked back in, checked out the potatoes and realized they were out of the .99 cent potatoes. I went up to the customer service counter and asked for a refund and a rain check. The lady was nice enough about it, and I ended up getting a nicer bag of potatoes for .99 cents. She offered me the rain check still, and I should have taken it, but silly me wasn't thinking clearly, because the entire time my boys were grabbing things off the shelves at customer service. I was thisclose to buying them a box of candy to quiet them, but I stood strong and didn't give in!

Then, at Safeway, they had a great deal on yogurt. Buy 4 get 4 free. Currently the Safeways in our area, they have "new" flavors that are marked down to 40 cents a piece. So I picked up 8 yogurt cups in the "new" flavors of Blueberry Cobbler and Apple Gogiberry. I went through the line, and saw the error that they were not taking off the 4. I asked the cashier and she went to look, then came back and said she didn't know why it wouldn't take them off. I took my receipt straight up to customer service and within minutes I had an additional 1.60 back! Woohoo!

It almost always pays to check out your receipt!

Welcome to the blog..

2009-09-29T09:18:00.000-07:00

Hello!
For those who don't know me, I'm Echo... I'm a Christian, wife, mother, and soon to be homeschool teacher. I don't know where this blog will go, but I'm excited to have it up and rolling.