I've been away. . .

. . .well, not really away. Just away from blog-land. Instead, I have been very much at my house!!!
Yes, that is me! (My hubby wouldn't take it too kindly if you thought it was him in the pink!) While, he has been VERY busy around the house, I've tried to help out when I can--mostly that means keeping the kiddos entertained and away from the mess!

But I thought I would give you a small taste of the "mess" we've been living in!

No more valences. . .

No more wall. . .

Everyone is helping out! E loves doing everything he can with his dad. Maybe it is being a guy and being able to destroy things. Who knows! Princess A, on the other hand, is an extremely helpful supervisor. :)

And here is the hole in my house. My hubby got a bunch of help from Grandpa A here. Again. . .it must be the ability to destroy things.

E checking things out. . .

And things being mended again.

Things I'm looking forward to. . .a "finished" kitchen and surrounding areas! And no more cleaning!!! When you have little kids in the house at the same time as a DIY renovation, that adds up to a lot of vacuuming, wiping and mopping multiple times a day! But the adventures continue!

Looking for Flowers in Winter

I may have mentioned my house is a mess--more so on the weekends when my hubby is home destroying it bit by bit.

I don't get to destroy it. . .I get to keep the kiddos entertained and out of the mess!

So, after a walk because the weather was great and the baby HAD to sleep, my kids thought they needed to pick some flowers. I guess common sense didn't seem so common that day. It's winter guys! After a very devastating search, I remembered a cute little post my friend had on her blog. And then we filled some more time that afternoon with flowers!
If you pop on over to her blog, she used buttons as the centers of the flowers. I didn't have enough buttons on hand that were easy to get to, so we used pony beads instead. Pretty simple craft though: cut strips of coloured paper, punch three holes, thread the paper on the pipe cleaners to create loops, make a "flower center," and there you go!

See? So easy!

Look at all this concentration!

And here is our final project. . .a flower for every person in the family.

Such a nice pre-Valentine thing to make.

Here is my hubby's version of romantic:

Ooohhh. . .I'm a very lucky girl! ;)

Have a great weekend!

A Quick Frame. . .

Just under a year ago, I attended a "Take It Home" event at our church. It was pretty much a class for parents or parents and children to teach us ways to use the things we learn at church in your home (making a connection between church and home). The particular one I attended was for a pre-school aged group. It was about blessings and our children. One part that stood out to me was a story (don't quote me on this one, I'm just telling it as I remember it) about a man/parent who had a bible verse in his child's room and would pray this verse over his child while sleeping as she grew up. When his child grew older, she was able to repeat this verse in a particular situation when wisdom was needed--and knew what her dad had done all these years. That story left me thinking about the power of praying Bible verses over my children--and particularly praying blessings over them.

At this class, some Bible verse suggestions were given to us, as well as some "posters" of some of these Bible blessings. Some parents shared about how they already had verse hanging up as a result of taking this little class at an earlier time and what it meant to them. To be honest, I didn't jump on the bandwagon right away and mount these posters that very same day, but gave the whole idea some thought. I thought about how I currently pray for my children and if/how I would change the way I pray for my children after hearing what I did that day. I thought about scripture verses related to prayer and blessings and raising children in the Lord. I thought about the verses printed on the posters and what God had said to His people in the past and was He was saying to me and my children through those verses now.

Eventually my husband and I did choose a verse for each of our children from the suggestions given. One thing we did find was how the things we would pray for our children turned up in these verses--and it was {easy} to "assign" a verse to hang in each of their rooms.

It is interesting (for a lack of a better word at the moment to capture how I ponder this) to me now, already, that my oldest often wants to read his verse as his night time prayer or reminds me to pray the verse for him. I got a glimpse of the passion the story-teller mentioned above had in sharing his idea with others--a glimpse of a yearning to share in God's blessing, whether we fully comprehend it or not. And a glimpse of how we have a need to have conversations with our Father, but also for others to have conversations with this same Father on our behalf. IT also reminded me that sometimes when we pray we just don't know the right words to say. . .but that God does, and He gave us the words we need in His Word.

Phew--And this was just gonna be a "look-at-the-short-little-project-I-made" kind of post!

So, here is that part! Here is the latest one I made. Like I said, I didn't jump on this project right away. But a few weeks ago, when my husband started wrecking--I mean, remodelling, if you can call it that at this point--our house, I needed something to do that felt like I was creating something nice--not a mess! So, I decided to mount the verse we had chosen for our youngest child.

Here is how this project worked for me. . .go through box of old frames. Reject all of them. Not even a coat of paint would fix any of them at this point. Go through junk room. Find old picture that hung in a baby room once upon a time. Decide that frame could be used but picture had to go. Realize frame is too big for my trusty scrapbook paper. . .think a little. . .pause for a "Candyland" break with the kids (sheer excitement!!!). . .think some more. . . Realize that I can use fabric. Search remnant fabric box. Choose one that will match room colors and fame. Get to work.
My stuff
Covering the frame. I just covered it in a similar way that I would wrap a present. Easy-peasy.

Then I mounted the "poster" of the verse to the front side, added a few star embellishments, and there you have it. Easy project. Hardly worth blogging about. But shows you how art-ish-y you can look even in you are not! And it shows you what you can accomplish in a whole 15 minutes! And it made me feel like my home was a {teensy} but prettier and nicer than our kitchen looks right now. :)

By the wall and bed cover of my youngster's bed. (Choosing exactly where to hang it might take a while still--but it is done and ready to be hung!)

Here are the ones I have in the rooms of my other kiddos:

FYI: Other verse selections we were given at this class in poster form included Ephesians 3: 17-19 and Galatians 2:20.

Menu Plan Monday

Happy eating this week. . .here is what we are doing:


Monday- Polynesian Ham, noodles, Melted Cheese Buns


Tuesday-Honey-Ginger Grilled Salmon (can substitute chicken), rice, salad

Wednesday-BBQ Chicken, buns

Thursday (CP)-Vegetable-Barley-Beef Soup

Friday-left-overs or pizza

Saturday's Snack-one-pan brownies (hopefully I'll post later)

Sunday (BFS)-pancakes, bacon



*Since my hubby is destroying my kitchen, I've been forced into "cleaning." Both the results of what he has destroyed (as I have a baby in the house!) and the junk in the cupboards that I no longer have! Which means. . .recipes. I discovered--again--that once upon a time, I had great hopes and dreams to be (or become) quite the homemaker! I have recipes galore, magazine clippings about hosting and table decorations, articles about how to pair wines with meals, crafts and decoration how-to's. . . and sadly, much of that went into the recycle. I guess when you are younger you just don't know how life is going to turn out--or how busy life becomes, especially with children and everything that goes along with raising them! Funny how I didn't have any articles on how to make a child clean their room every day or how to raise your child to become the next president. . .



Anyway, the positive outcome of my sad nostalgia, is that I found a few good recipes to hold onto and to try. One of them is this one. And it is super easy!

Honey-Ginger Grilled Chicken


1 t. ground ginger
1 t. garlic powder
1/3 c. soy sauce
1/3 c. orange juice
1/4 c. honey
1 scallion, chopped
1-1/2 lbs. salmon fillet

Directions:

1. In a large self-closing plastic bag, combine first 6 ingredients. Mix well. Place salmon in bag and seal tightly. Turn bag to distribute the marinade.




2. Refrigerate 15 minutes or up to 30 minutes. Turn bag occasionally.




3. Lightly grease grill rack. Preheat grill to medium heat. Remove salmon from marinade; reserve marinade. Grill 12-15 minutes per inch of thickness or until fish flakes easily with a fork. Brush with reserved marinade during cooking. Discard left-over marinade. Serves 4.




Notes: You can substitute salmon with 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Served great with steamed rice tossed with grilled vegetables.

My note: I kept the salmon in the marinade all day. We ate it with honey-garlic noodles and a salad. It was super easy and super good. Our kids even asked for more of the "chicken." And therefore, we definitely had "chicken" for supper. LOL!

Apple Loaf

Finally I am going to get this post up! For how incredibly easy this recipe is, you'd think I'd have posted it already!
I got this recipe from my sister--back in "apple-sauce season" I wanted something productive to do with apples instead of applesauce! (Although looking back, and being more than half-way done all the applesauce I made, something productive would have been making EVEN MORE applesauce!)

This was originally a Zucchini Bread recipe with an apple variation.

1.5 c. flour

1 t. cinnamon

1/2 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

1/4 t. baking powder

1/4 t. nutmeg

1 egg, beaten

1 c. sugar

1 c. shredded unpeeled zucchini

1/4 c. cooking oil

1/2 c, chopped walnuts or pecans, optional

The apple variation of the recipe says to replace the zucchini with 1.5 c. shredded peeled apple. My sister's great advice is to also substitute the cooking oil for applesauce (Which many people do things like that anyway).

So. . .grating apples. . .

Mix that with applesauce/oil, egg, and sugar. In another bowl combine the rest of the ingredients. Add the "wet" stuff to the "dry" stuff. Stir until just moistened. Fold in nuts now if you are going to add any. Pour in a pan. . .Bake at 350 for 50-55 minutes.

There you go. Yummy bread all the time. I make these into muffins, little loafs or regular sized loafs--whatever works. The other thing I love about this recipe, is that it is so-o-o forgiving and still works out! If you don't have nutmeg, add a little more cinnamon. Use whole-wheat flour instead. Use all chunky applesauce instead of shredded apple. Add a little extra apple if you like it super apple-ish-y.
Some things I have learned. . .let the loaf cool completely before slicing or moving into plastic to freeze or store. Its better to even wait a day. That is why the little muffins or little loafs work better if you want to eat right away--which you will!!! And make two at a time. . .in our house this disappears VERY quickly!

See more recipes at Tempt My Tummy, Tasty Tuesdays What's Cooking Wednesday, Sweets for Saturday.

Menu Plan Monday

So, I skipped a week. . .welcome back to MPs for me!

Monday-Hamburger Stroganoff. . .okay, it was a Hamburger Helper!!! (gotta keep the hubby happy if i want my kitchen usable soon!) with garlic bread and salad.

Tuesday-Polynesian Ham, rice

Wednesday-Nachos

Thursday (CP)-Slow CookerThai Chicken, noodles, salad

Friday- pizza

Saturday's Snack-Apple Loaf. . .I'll get around to posting about this one of these days!

Sunday- French Toast Casserole, ham steaks

Last week we had: ravioli in spaghetti sauce (found the "just-like-old-spaghetti-factory-tomato-based recipe and made that. . .added Italian sausage. . .not a big hit in this household this week. . .and we even had to eat it twice!), chicken bacon pizza (this was and always is a big hit!), chicken nuggets and french fries, and grilled cheese.

Have a great week!

For more mp idea, visit www.orgjunkie.com

Just a regular weekend. . .

I thought we were having a regular weekend. . .
playing with the kids,
shopping for groceries,
visiting with a friend,
going to church,
having regular family dinner,
the usual, family stuff. . .

{What a sweetheart!!!}

. . . until my hubby just kinda decided he didn't like valences anymore.

Many people who has an older home like this is very familiar with the valences--to hide the curtain rods--we deal with them. We get used to them. There isn't a lot you can do with them. . .

Unless you are my hubby, and decide you don't like them on a weekend like any other. And your house suddenly looks like this!

And then this:

And then this. . .

I just want to know where my cupboards are!!! He gets to go to work and leave the mess behind. But I have to function in here!!!

But I shouldn't complain. He was nice enough to put the clock back up!

What have we gotten ourselves into?

I must have {jinx-ed} myself. A mom of one of my son's friends stopped by and said she remembers being in our house because she was friends with someone who lived here previously. She thought it was neat because we had made a few changes and she remembers what it was like before. I was telling her about how I wanted to have the kitchen redone one of these days.

I did not mean that this weekend was "one of these days!"

We have lots of little projects to do--a baseboard needs nailing, a door needs a fixed hinge, cleaning galore. . .why a new project???

So. . .we will see how one is to function in a mess like this! :)

Making Snowmen

A few weeks ago my son got a letter home from school about a book that they had read:

Snowballs by Lois Ehlert. It is this cute children's book and all the illustrations are done using "stuff": things like paper, screws, popcorn, seeds, hats, socks, scarves and so forth. They got a "homework assignment" to make a snowman of their own at home using stuff from around the house. Junk. Recyclables. That kind of stuff. So, that is what we spent the day doing.

First, E had to look at images on the Internet about "snow people." That gave him the perfect idea.

Then, we had to make a stop at our local, free craft shop (aka: Oma's house) to pick up a few supplies. (That is still considered stuff from around the house, right? It was just from her house!)Since E and A were awake and ready to do all this by 7:30AM, they had to be distracted to make a cut and drawn kind of snowman first!

(Here is little a keeping himself entertained through it all!)

My busy workers! They used cups and bowls to trace their circles and material scraps for scarves. And of course lots of glue and crayons! And the final projects~ at 8:30AM! (First is E's, second is Princess A's creation)

Then, we were finally able to make the trip over to Oma's to pick up some stuff--googly eyes, Styrofoam balls and a cute little outfit for little a (not part of the supplies, of course, but just a nice added bonus!)

Here is E with some of the supplies:
And here is his story: "We got a ball and tissue paper. Then we stuffed it in a bag for eating lunch until it was full and taped it shut. We glued the buttons on and colored them too. The the nose. We poked it in and for the smile we did beads. I got burned a bit from the hot glue. For the eyes we did googly eyes. We used material for the hat and tied it with a string and then did the cutting and made a scarf from the same material. We poked straws for the arms. That was very last. And. . .I think that is all. We used a glue gun to stick everything on. And some tape. Done. I think."

Here is the snowman and the proud owner (minus the straw arms--that was a thought later on). And some close ups. . .

Then of course, Princess A needed one. So during the 20 minutes of napping time in the afternoon (mixed with crying because little a didn't want to nap!) Princess A got to make her "Snow Angel."

Too much fun.. . .she spent some time afterwards floating it around the house! Here is a link for where we were looking at snow people ideas (if it still works--I had some problems with it earlier!).

Menu Plan Monday

Menu Plan day again. . .

Last week was one of those weeks were I didn't follow the plan. Which is all good, because I made this recipe: Honey Citrus Crock Pot Chicken. (I was kinda tired of peppers and onions and all that in food and creamy chicken kind of recipes). The only thing I would change is to use more pepper or ginger or something like that to give it a bit more of a kick.

And then later on in the week, to use the left-over chicken, I made a version of this stir fry. And everyone liked it. So it turned out to be a good eating week anyway--plan or no plan.

This week:

Monday- BBQ Chicken Sandwiches, coleslaw

Tuesday- Spaghetti, salad, garlic buns

Wednesday- Fancy grilled cheese, and for me and hubby~Homemade Broccoli & Cheddar Soup

Thursday (Crock Pot Day)-CP Thai Chicken, rice, corn

Friday- left-overs or pizza

Saturday's Snack- Apple Loaf (hopefully I'll get a post out about this one)

Sunday-French Toast Casserole, sausage

Well, there you go.

For more menu plan ideas, visit www.orgjunkie.com

Menu Plan late-Monday

So much for starting the new year in an organized fashion!

Oh well. We have been busy with family get-togethers and the resulting colds and germs that go along with all of that (read: crabby kids)! This week it is back to the ordinary life. . .I think, anyway!

Monday-We had creamy chicken (CP) on buns and salad

Tuesday- We had Taco Salad

Wednesday-Thinking about pizza sandwiches or pizza

Thursday-Tuscan Chicken sandwiches (CP), stir fried veggies

Friday-Hamburgers (just want the BBQ going in the cold! we did it this past weekend with some salmon, and it is just yum when you smell that outside!)

Saturday- see my appy selection below

Sunday-pancakes and ham

Appies: Since it is a new year and no one wants to be eating anymore, here are a few of the appies/treats we had over the holidays (while I ceased to blog!)

Guacamole

Fresh Salsa

6 Roma tomatoes, 1 c. chopped onion, 1 T. garlic, 1 pepper, 1 t. hot chili, 1/2 t. cumin, 2 T oil, 2 t. lemon or lime juice.

Chop, mix, let sit for 1/2 hour, and enjoy!

Bruschetta

8-10 tomatoes, 2T finely chopped onion, 2 cloves minced garlic, 1/4 c. fresh basil, 2 t. red wine vinegar, 3 T olive oil, salt and pepper--to taste.

Mix ingredient together and let stand for 1/2 hour. Drain excess liquid. Slice Italian bread, brush with 3 T oil, broil on low until just browning. Spoon tomato mixture on top of bread. Enjoy!

Baked onion rings

Hot Cheesy Spinach Dip

For more menu plan ideas, visit http://www.orgjunkie.com/!