Blogging Again :)

Me: Feeling Good These Days

Ahhhhh I haven't blogged since June. I started taking medication for my PPD/PPAnxiety about that same time. Of course, I think it's all related. Since being on medicine, I've been super active around the house keeping up with chores and with the girls. I've been Twittering {Superfab912} a bunch and have been enjoying it. I've also come to the conclusion that I think I actually NEED to be on medicine full-time. I'm not sure if this is totally a PPD thing or not. It all might have just manifested into the worst-blue-period ever after having these babies. You know? Without sharing too much, I feel like such a better person now that I'm taking medicine. I was super against it but I can think more clearly now. And that's so good. The morning after I took it for the first time, when I woke up, it was so silent. In my head. Like when a record is turned off real fast and the sound goes "zzzzzzchuupe" and then it's silent... or when you're the only person in a small coffee shoppe and a gaggle of people come in and are chatty and giggly and busy, and when they leave the store ~ THAT silence. That's how it felt in my head.

I wasn't hearing voices or anything but do you know what I mean? That Inner Monologue just shut-up.

So on Monday I have my first appointment with a psychiatrist. She was recommended to me by my physical therapist (who I just had a playdate with this morning - her daughter is a month younger than my oldest girls - we had a blast, and I think I made a friend for myself!! YAY!!!) I really don't want to talk to anyone about all my shit but I think it's time. And I don't think my OB can handle the adjusting of this, not in offense to her ~ it's just not her area of expertise. It's time to pass the torch from OB to Pysch. I think I need some adjustments on my medication AND I think I might need a PRN. I think going to a psychiatrist is the best way to figure out the right plan of action. Sometimes the medicine works really well but I have days at a time where it just seems like it's not enough. Does that make sense? As always, I will let y'all know how it goes. I don't ever actually say "y'all" it just seemed appropriate to use at this time. :)

MIRACULOUSLY, I haven't lost a follower during this little blogging sabbatical of mine. {Can I call this a sabbatical?} I'd like to thank the Thirty-Nine of you Followers for sticking around! Maybe you have been on the edge of your seat anxiously waiting for my return. Maybe you've been busy yourself and haven't even noticed. :) That's okay, too. I am starting to feel more like writing again so I hope to be blogging more. School is starting soon so I'm definitely going to have more time on my hands to blog. I really have a hard time blogging when the kiddies are about. :)

As far as the house goes, I finished, & started and finished, several projects (& started a few more) around the house that I've been wanting to get done for quite some time. Like these things:

hallway curtains

bookcase

the Hancock shelf

frames for Snowdrop's frame-wall

baking, baking, baking

curtains in our bathroom

sewing, sewing, sewing

cleaned out and organized so many things

threw out so many things that I didn't need/want

AND four years of projects that never got started or finished.

If I had time right now I would take and post pictures of these things to show you. But I don't today. Sorry.

I've pretty much caught up on Project Baby Clothes {which I talked about in one of the Vloggin' Vednesdays that I'd love to get back into doing}. I've got one basket of clothes that turned up after I put away all the other stuff and did more laundry. BUT, I've got almost everything that doesn't fit put away! The upstairs closets are dangerously stuffed with bins and other things haha ~ it's always a little scary to open the doors! I never know if something is going to come flying out at me. :)

I {mainly} finished that project in June but this past week we moved all three girls into one room. The third floor is no longer Snowdrop's room ~ it's the playroom! I'm thrilled!! I even moved my sewing machine up there. We're moving my desk up there this weekend so I'll have a little space of my own within the playroom to work on MY stuff. :) OK. SO. The big move. I did it all by myself. See. I've been on Hubby for like two months to do this and it {ahem, he} keeps pushing it back. He went golfing on Sunday and I was mad about something that happened the previous night so I said "F it. I'm doing it myself!" All it really involved was moving the full size mattress from the third floor, taking down one toddler bed, and converting the other back into a crib. Mattress moving isn't really that hard when you're just going down the stairs. The girls totally helped me maneuver it around a couple corners ~ they were awesome helpers! So we got the room set up and I'm just so happy with it. I think we need a little tweaking here and there, and I need to fix some of their alphabet but for the most part I'm just thrilled to have them in one room. It opened up the third floor to become a straight up playroom, which in turn meant that we moved every. single. toy. upstairs. WHOOHOO!!! We left a bunch of books on this floor but other than those {and of course, the tv} our main floor is now 'kid free'. YAY! :)

We went to Portland in the middle of June for a friend's wedding and had a blast. I LOVE PORTLAND!!! It was seriously a great trip. Honestly, there isn't time to talk about how much I loved it. The street-pirates (the street kids/people) that were so very interesting to watch and talk to. The freedom I felt there to be ME. We were there for the PRIDE parade, too, which absolutely contributed to the feelings of acceptance, friendliness, and youth of the city. I love the downtown area so much, I could definitely see us living there. I could open my vintage/handmade shop in a little place in the city instead of on Etsy (it's coming soon!!!)... Hubby is not sold on the idea for "right now" because of the family business (of course) but maybe we can retire there someday. Early. Early retirement in Portland. Haha. In my dreams.

Actually, in my dreams ~ I'll retire to Europe. Vacationing in America occasionally when I get homesick for a Windy City or SoCal beaches. Anyways..........

A good friend of mine came to visit over the Fourth of July holiday and we had a blast. We've been friends since high school, worked at THE bakery together, I was involved with her older brother for a few years and generally always figured I'd wind up as part of the family. THAT didn't happen (obviously) but we've all remained super close friends over the years. It was sooooooooo good to see her. I am lucky to have such great friends even though they don't live nearby. It's hard not having "real friends" down here. Do you know what I mean? Not that I don't enjoy the company of my friends here, I just feel so often like people "have" to be my friend just because I married their friend.... anyways. MY friend and I had a spectacular time. We cooked and baked, and refinished/painted/recovered two chairs I found at the Goodwill Outlet for the girls room, and we sewed a bunch of little things for the girls (like pillowcases!). We stayed up late and laughed for hours. And we brainstormed about some projects we're going to work on together. It was SUCH a great weekend when she was here.

My soulmate (and very best friend in the entire world), O and I had a Girls Weekend late in July and it was just ridiculous. So much fun!! It was just like the old days. But better. So neeeeeeeeded to be just us girls. O's boyfriend (who I love and who will marry her someday; I've already granted my permission. He was very sweet in asking for it, seeing as I am his future wife's soulmate. Really, isn't that cute to ask me? What a doll.) was going out of town for the weekend so we had full-range of the apartment to ourselves. It was a great weekend; we also got together with some other girlfriends of ours ~ grilling tofu and drinking champagne on rooftop decks overlooking the skyline. It's so great that we're all still close. We've known each other since high school. Like Freshman Year. It's nice to have people from back in the day still around. They've been around through it all. A girlfriend of ours works at Tiffanys so we went that Saturday and tried on ridiculous rings. And by ridiculous, I mean HUGE. And redonkulously expensive. I tried on a $165,000 ring. ZOMG. It really WAS beautiful. Though, I think I'd rather we pay off the house than spend that kind of money on a ring (we don't have that kind of money anyways, haha!).  That said, however, I would absolutely accept and proudly wear a ring of that caliber and size. HA! :) OMG. It was so pretty. And it looked nice on my finger. ;) O also bought all us girls a stacking ring to commemorate the weekend. She had a LOT of credit from a (an old-boyfriend's) gift she had returned. WHAT an awesome friend I have. AWESOME!!! My ring is pretty and had to be ordered so I'll get it the next time I go up there for a visit. Which will be soon. I think the more I see my soulmate, the happier I am. And vice-versa. We are seriously like part of each other. It's amazing to me, our friendship has come so far and been through so much (long story, not for today) and here we are: as strong as ever, finishing thoughts again, can't stand being 300 miles away from each other... in fixing our friendship (and growing the fuck up), I have been able to find so much of myself that I thought I had lost years ago when I became a mom and moved out. O had those pieces the whole time. And you know what's funny? I had her pieces that left with me when I left ~ we were both fools and I'm just so glad we can share our pieces again. I missed her SOFREAKINMUCH and while it doesn't necessarily make me happy to think of her sharing all that pain with me, I'm "glad" (?) that I wasn't the only one who felt so lonely without the other. We are truly soulmates. How cool is that!

I am meeting my birth-dad and his side of my family the weekend of August 19th. 

This is a HUGE DEAL, of course. I'm SO full of all sorts of feelings and emotions. I am super excited and super nervous. I think it's going to go great! I have a feeling that I am very much like this side of my family. Part of the reason I am seeing this psychiatrist now is so she can help me prepare for this. Hubby, God Bless him, just doesn't get it. I don't expect him to, he's not adopted so he'll never really 'get it'. But he tries and is being supportive of this event even though I KNOW I'm being very wishy-washy emotional high-strung about it. I'm all over the chart of emotions these days when it comes to meeting him, understandably. I hope I get the chance to cook with my grandma/aunts, that would just be so cool. I have a full-blood biological brother who lives in the same city as my dad (Tampa/Ocala, FL) (and a full-blood bio sister, but she lives with my mom in Pennsylvania) and I'm hoping he'll come and meet me, too. When I asked my JohnDad (that's what I call him; his name is John but that didn't seem personal enough; I already have a Dad so... JohnDad it is) about it, it didn't really sound to me like my bio-brother was going to come. That's okay. I don't want to push anybody into doing this, you know? It's a big deal. I know that my biological mom doesn't want to meet me. Or at least that's how she felt several years ago... or maybe it's that she wants to but can't because it's too hard. I totally get it. {as much as I can get it.} Part of me feels like she should be the very first person to meet me, considering she's my mom, but I really can't wait forever for her to come around and want to meet me. I wanna meet my grandma before she kicks the bucket ~ sorry to be so insensitive about that thought.

*sigh*. 

Okay. I totally whipped all of this out in the last hour or so while I let the girls play upstairs. They are supposed to be napping but I REALLY wanted to post on my blog so I'm letting them run around like banshees up there. {Disclaimer, they are totally safe in their room.} It's been forever since I posted and I'd probably write more but it's time for "naptime" to be over. I tried a few times before to post this summer but the girls got in the way and I didn't finish my thoughts, things ended up needing to get done, there were poopy diapers, etc. I'm glad I could get this posted today.

Hope everyone is doing well! I hope to catch up on lots of things this weekend. Like some more blogging. And reading about your lives. I have thought of so many of you during my time off and truly hope everything is fabulous in your neck of BlogLand. 

Oh HI & Some Other Stuff

Yes. I have been totally MIA around here. Sorry.

I've been CLEANING. Seriously, cleaning. Organizing. Finishing projects. Cleaning. Cleaning. Cleaning. I am on a roll.... I have been almost totally off the computer. It's so weird. The medicine I am on... is totally making me do all this. It's gotta be because I have gotten more done in the last two weeks than I have gotten done in the last year or two ~ for real!!! 

It's actually been really nice.

I'm not putting up Project365 this week. Mainly because we are leaving town tomorrow morning and I really don't have time to do it this week. Sorry. I REALLY hope I can have it all back up and running next Friday. Sorry again. 

So we're going to visit my parents this weekend for a short trip. My little brother is graduating from eighth grade (!!!!!!!!) and so we must go. I get to see my bestest friend in the entire world on Saturday night so I am sooooooooooooooooooo super excited to see her. This girl is my other half, my true other half. I can't wait!!

In other REALLY AWESOME and EXCITING NEWS ~ TODAAAAAAY was our fourth wedding anniversary! Well, June 2nd was. Technically it is 1:34am and June 3rd, whatever. So we have been married four years and have three kids. And I think that's wild. Not at all what I expected of my life. We have not had an easy marriage, there have been MANY rough times most especially recently when it was hard to be in the same room and not argue. We both agreed to suck it up, both stop acting like jerks and really TRY. And so we have. And so things are going well. As they should do when we try to share and get along. It's not easy being married and anyone who tells you so is lying. Sometimes, being married sucks. Like getting used to living with a BOY {ew}, a CLEAN boy {weird}. I expected it to be easier because it had been so hard living apart... but it's really been an adjustment. Anyways, it's great to get through the rough patches and know that the other person was right there the whole time. Just waiting it out with you. I am so very lucky to have someone like my husband to be married to ~ he really is great sometimes! {Cause c'mon, you KNOW he's going to do something soon enough that will make my head spin! Haha!} 


Four years!! WILD. :)

Okay. I have to stop procrastinating and switch over the laundry. And then I should probably head to bed so I get SOME sleep tonight. 

Thanks for understanding about the recent failings of Project365 and the rest of my blogging. Hope you all are well. :) 

Blogging: FAIL.

So I haven't been blogging all week. I don't know... I just haven't felt it. And I suppose as a result of that, I completely forgot about Project365!! It was supposed to post today. I'm the worst. blogger. ever!!! Tomorrow it will hopefully be nice out and Hubby will have the girls in the yard doing yardwork so I will have time to post and set up the linky. My bad. Blogging, Fail.

A big apology to those who linked up last week and didn't get comments from me!! Thank you for linking up!! :)

We survived the recent Midwest storms just fine but those folks in Joplin, Missouri really got hit hard. There are TONS of ways you can help. Give blood, send $5 to the Red Cross... you get the idea. A blog I follow, Motherhood Unadorned, mentioned an auction going on at her friend's shop, LillyBelle's Closet. You can check it out by clicking here. Even a prayer, good thoughts, best wishes sent to Joplin would help out.

The destruction is really horrible.

OK. We have been super busy this week. 

The girls are out of school now so I'm trying to keep them as busy as possible. We spend a lot of time in our yard while the baby is napping. I putter around the patio trimming the flowers and plants, sometimes watering them ~ but it's rained a lot this week so not too much! :) The girls and I went on errands; somewhat superfluous, but it was nice to get out of the house. Snowdrop picked up something peanut while we were out; I think it was from the cart she was sitting in. I have one of those covers but she sometimes gets under it, etc. She's such a monkey; she has also discovered how to wriggle out of the strap. Monkey. Anyways, so she didn't have a crazy reaction but she was definitely a little puffy and rashy. It was scary. We gave her Wal-dryl (Benedryl) and she started looking better. It's really scary to think how easy it would be for her to come in contact with stuff. I had the Epi-Pen with us but still. 

I conquered my baby clothes catastrophe today and I'm proud to say that (...other than about 3-4 loads of baby laundry waiting to be done ~ a few items of which might need to be packed away...) I successfully organized, separated, and packed away 135 gallons (that's 5 plastic containers) worth of too-big/too-small clothes. As in, it's packed away in bins, IN a closet. UNSEEN if the doors are closed. Whoohoo!!! It feels REALLY awesome to have finally gotten all of that put away. The hallway floors can be seen and when Snowdrop went up to her room tonight, she stuck her arms out and said "Wheh?" 

I am so excited to be cleaning up.

This must be the medicine, right?

Which by the way... I think is going okay. Good-okay. Sometimes I feel like I could use a little more... kick to it? I'm still getting panicky sometimes. Still waiting it out to see how my body is adjusting... I guess sometimes I just feel like I need a little more "calm" than it's giving me. We'll see what happens.

Thanks for sticking around while I go through this.

I bought a pair of striped curtains from Goodwill this week. It appears that whoever previously owned them, decided to wash them instead of getting them dry-cleaned. The dark blue dye ran onto the light blue and tan stripes... there are a good amount of spots that need cleaning. Does anyone have any ideas? I read something about vinegar, but that was confusing. I'm not sure about bleach, what if I ruin them completely. They cost $16 total, which isn't a fortune but I don't want to ruin them further. I really like them but if I can't save them (relatively inexpensively, time and monetarily) then I don't think they are worth the $16.

Any stain/dye removal tips??

I also found two pairs (!!!) of white curtains with silver grommets. I've been looking for this style for quite some time now. I'm thrilled as each pair only cost $6. I can use these as curtains or under curtains as liner-curtains... there are so many uses. I'm so glad. AND since I found these, that means we'll be painting this main room GREY. I really love the combination of white panel curtains with grey walls. It's so crisp. And I think it will look great in our main room. Soooooooooo. The paint store sells "ooops" paint and I'm going to start checking for 5 gallon buckets of grey paint so we can get this room painted and done!! 

One more bit of news, Hubby convinced me to attend a wedding with him in June... across the country in Portland!!! It will be good for us to go away together. While I AM looking forward to going back to Portland for a visit & seeing old friends & getting away for a few days.... I'm totally NOT looking forward to flying ~ I really HATE flying. It makes me really anxious, nervous, worried, etc. I'm a fraidy cat. Never used to be. But then 9/11 happened and I grew a little worried about flying. And then I became a mom and pretty much decided it was TOTALLY irresponsible of me to go flitting about miles above the Earth. What if something happened and my babies were left here without me? I digress. I've been tossing & turning for the last two nights/mornings since we bought our tickets... I think I'm nervous. I also think I'm an idiot because everything will be fine and we will have a wonderful time.

*sigh*

Ok. Time for bed. 

Project356... Tomorrow!

Crazy Week

Project365 will be up later this afternoon!

Sorry for any inconvenience.

Yesterday, on my mother-in-law's 57th birthday ~ and her 30-something wedding anniversary ~ we found out that some of her skin samples sent in for testing this week, tested positive for skin cancer. The "Basal" kind, so apparently the less scary kind... My MIL is not worried about it but of course I am. I am trying not to worry but anything with the word "cancer" is super scary to me. She is like the cornerstone of our family here in the Little City. There is no way I'd ever live up to all she does ~ so I hope we are able to nip this in the bud and get rid of it!! I want her here for a very long time. She has always treated me so well and truly accepted me as her daughter, not just an "in-law". I hope she's okay and not hiding anything. {She's not the type of person to do that so I don't really worry about that.}

Hubby's grandpa was just diagnosed with congestive heart failure this week. He is on some new meds that are helping to make him feel better. And will go for more testing this week. This is not "the end" for him but certainly an indicator that things are on the slow-down...  AND Hubby's dad hurt his leg {ankle & knee} and pretty much can't walk, so Hubby has been picking up some of his stops this week. I think he's having surgery soon for this. Not positive on that.

Seriously ~ We are falling apart over here!! 

SO in addition to this, my brother is going through a lot with PTSD {US Army/Afghanistan} and his marriage is suffering and things are.... let's just say pretty fu-barred in his life at the moment. I don't really want to get into the details but being in Afghanistan really messed him up. It's so hard to be there for him when he's across the country. I wish I could just drive over to his place and take him out, you know?

And MY grandpa {dad's dad} is finally getting out of the nursing home, after spending time there to recuperate from a nasty bought with pneumonia. The doctors say that it is out of one lung but that the other lung still shows something. Something. My grandparents have elected NOT to have further testing done and my grandpa should be going home soon. They have also found a nice plot at a cemetery down in FL. We {between my mom & I} do not know if they are hiding information {unlike my MIL, they would totally hide something serious from everyone and put on a good face anyways ~ not a bad thing, they are just VERY private about "private matters"}. So.... that's all going down, too.

So I've been dealing with a lot the last few days and thus have not really had time to work on blog stuff.

Good news though, my medicine seems to be working and other than a few odd side effects {vomiting of course, waking up at night, and tiny panic attacks here & there, forgetfulness} I am actually enjoying what it's doing to me. I want to post about that separately. But I wanted to share it now just to update anyone who might be following THAT part of my life...

~

Thanks for understanding!!!

All best wishes, prayers, good thoughts are welcome & needed!! :) Thank you!!!

Project365 will be up later.

Still Here

Hey! I'm still here!

I have not felt like blogging at all. I mean, I've still been reading blogs. And Twittering. I just haven't feel like writing. Project365 is still on for this week and will be up on Friday! 

I'm in a funk. Whatever, it happens to all of us.

Hope you all had pleasant Mothers Days! :)

Thanks for sticking around! :)

Just an Excuse to Share Pictures! Shoot & Edit Challenge, too!!

YAY!!!!!!!!

My day is getting brighter by the minute and I couldn't be more thrilled!!! The girls napped this afternoon, all three of them!! In fact, the Big Girls are still sleeping! After lounging in the yard for a bit, and getting Snowdrop from upstairs, I checked my Twitter only to discover that I've won a giveaway from the very wonderful Paper Mama for this totally awesome portrait!!! The custom gallery wrapped portrait is from Fleur Anning , you should check them out. I'm SUPER EXCITED!! And now I need to find that picture I want to use... heeehee! {claps hands together and jumps with glee} I won a giveaway a few weeks ago from the lovely Joan at Expecting the Unknown, too! Maybe my lucky streak has finally come?!?! :) YAY!!
{And THANK YOU to both Chelsey & Joan for such awesome giveaways ~ you both rock!! And totally made my days!!}

So. Here are pictures of when we had the Easter Egg Hunt at Gigi & Papa's house!
{That was on Holy Saturday.}

I didn't really edit most of these because I basically just wanted an excuse to share them! Enjoy! :)

Magnolia & Juniper {Yellow/Gray & Coral colored dresses}

 

My Little Snowdrop!

Junie & Mags

Junie

The back of Magnolia's dress ~ isn't that bow pretty?

Going over their new stash!

Her favorite thing to do at Gigi's house is play with the froggy tea table.

I am entering this picture for the weekly Shoot & Edit series with Jill & Ashley! :)

See those huge bags in the background? Filled with "Easter Gifts" from Gigi!! What's that my dear? Organic Capers!!!! She could not have been more thrilled!! :)

Easter Baskets ~ it appears someone has a preference for purple?

Junie's collection

Miss Magnolia's collection ~ she did the same thing at the school egg hunt!

Thanks for stopping by my blog! 

Have a great night!! :) 

Forgot a Title

We still don't have the results from the tests... or my grandparents aren't sharing. We don't really know. 

Old people are weird.

Speaking of the Aged & Wise...

I confirmed with my biological grandma today that we will, in fact and for real, be meeting this year.

SCARY!!

EXCITING!!

My biological dad's side of the family lives in Florida. 

And my parents' condo happens to be about a 3 hour drive from where they live. 

My mom is trying to get us kids to bring our families there in August.

So... probably by September of this year, I will have met my birthfamily.

WICKED.

{Unfortunately, I may also meet them earlier as my grandfather will be buried in Florida should he pass sooner than later. Geez, that's such a morbid thought but it's the truth. And I might as well make something positive out of the trip, right?}

Okay and I asked her to be part of my Family Interview Project and she said Yes! I'm super excited!! Basically, the project involves me interviewing the older members of our families (I'm doing both adoptive & biological since I feel that I am part of both histories) on the family history, as well as their own life experience. It is not a simple project and I still have not begun the interview portion. I'm still in the organizing & typing up the questions part. It's getting there, this was not an overnight project nor did I plan for it to be. I want it to be good and right and something that our families will enjoy. My Nana was ready to start right then and there ~ lol ~ but I told her that we could wait until a better time. See, she had just sat down with my bio aunt in a restaurant for dinner. They had just ordered waters. She's so sweet, wanting to tell me all about the family instead of eating her dinner. I love these people so much. They love me so much. And they make it so very apparent. I feel so blessed to have them in my lives. And I can't wait to meet them. :) 

But the idea of it all happening still makes me nervous as all get-out.

{Okay, what in the world does that mean "as all get-out" ?}

This morning, we took the girls down to our city's public school special education... "people". I'm not sure what to call them, evaluators maybe? We had to meet them at this magnet school in the city (which I was ridiculous, amazeball-ingly, impressed with) to get them tested for speech, and academics but mainly just for speech. We were there for two hours but it would have been much longer if we all hadn't gone ~ all being the five of us, yep even Snowdrop went. This way, Hubby could go with one girl into testing while I went with the  other, two birds one stone. Snowdrop was an absolute doll the whole time and only got fussy for the last 1/2 hour (which was an hour after her naptime). She played with the toys in the room and generally stayed out of the "testers/teachers" ways. Both girls did REALLY great on the academic stuff, which was really awesome to see and I was so proud. All my hard work at teaching them stuff and reading to them is really paying off. Junie was even completing some of the DAYC 4 tests! Awesome!! Mags was a little... not shy, what's the word... she was acting silly and not doing things that I know she knows how to do ~ like sing the Alphabet, or Itsy Bitsy Spider... 

I really can't explain how helpful just going IN for the testing was. Just to observe the things that these gals were observing and the little tips I picked up from them. Plus, these ladies were REALLY nice and the assessments were so detailed and they really seriously took the time to get to know the girls and read their background information. The gal who evaluated their speech said that she could barely understand them and was "sure" they'd get services. I'm not counting my eggs but I'm glad that she recognized the same things that I have been recognizing in the girls. Basically, it's a speech thing not a language thing ~ which is a good thing. That means that they can comprehend language and the different parts of it, but they physically can't get their mouths to do the right thing. I am one of the only ones who understands them and even I have a hard time sometimes. Junie has a bigger issue with the speech than Mags but I hope they are both recommended for services because I know they both can benefit from the services. Plus, if one is getting them and the other isn't ~ I think the other might hold back the first one from getting better. I don't know. Maybe?

They were also really impressed that the girls picked up ALL the toys before we left. They said that the kids don't normally do that. Leave it to my weird kids. They did not get that gene from me. Anyways, the school people just could not have been nicer. It was really pleasant. Mags thanked me on the way home for taking her there and said that she would like to go back there some day. These girls are just so sweet. I love them.

New Header as of today. I am really enjoying the creating of my headers. It's so relaxing.

And it feels so lovely to be creative. Photoshop rules.

{Even if this chair really bothers my tailbone.}

Sometimes I even like to make buttons in Photoshop.

Do YOU need a button? Or maybe just an update from your old one?

Hope you are having a really great week! Mine is not super stellar but I'm hanging in there. I have even remembered to take pictures every day!! (I think!!! Haha!) It has rained here every day for what seems like five days. I think that's not an exaggeration. There has been so. much. rain. Flooding down south but we've been lucky not to have any here. The tornadoes even avoided us this time. {Whoooooooo!}

I have to go switch my laundry over and get to bed. I am finally doing my own laundry for the first time in more than two weeks. I have enough underwear and clothes that I don't neeeeed to do it every week ~ but man, did that pile get big. I am on my third load and about to put in a fourth. 

It was fun to separate them into delicates, shirts & tank tops, pants/shorts, sweatshirts/sweaters.
I might have a mild form of OCD.

Might.

The Most Random

We had Chinese food tonight. I feel stuffed. I really like crab rangoon. I also really like shrimp toast but only from this one place in La Jolla... the Mandarin House. YUM. They also have the best cashew chicken in the entire world. It's the truth.

It was a long day. I don't have a Shoot & Edit for this week. I didn't do any laundry. I did run some errands.

We now own a mop. I even splurged on some Seventh Generation Natural Dishwasher Gel to test it out. It's phosphate and chloride (?) free. Whatever it's not supposed to have isn't in there, and that's good. I've been really unhappy with our current dish detergent for a while.... it always leaves a residue, and I hate having to buy rinsing agents in addition to detergent. You know? So we'll see. Our old stuff leaves a white film/dust on our dishes. It drives me CRAZY. I hope this new stuff does the job without leaving that gross stuff all over.  Actually, after I wrote that last sentence I checked the dishwasher which is now done. The dishes are pretty spotless. I'll give it another couple loads before I make my final decision.

I found some good peanut-free candies to stuff inside eggs for Easter. Yay!! I'll have to have a special Halloween for Snowdrop each year. I picked up Easter grass for 25 cents a bag. I thought this was a good deal. I'm excited for Easter. I love making & hiding baskets for the girls!!!

I broke my No Baby Clothes resolution today in order to purchase an Easter dress for Magnolia. See, Junie had one that I had gotten last year for $8 from Gap (wait until you see it, it's so cute!). And Snowdrop had received one from being born (also from Gap, sized for this year though!) that she could wear at Easter. So... they both had new dresses and poor Mags kept saying how she didn't have a new dress to wear. She sounded so pathetic that I thought I'd head on down to the local children's resale shoppe and have a look. I ended up buying 4 dresses (I can return what didn't work) from there and one from TJ Maxx. As it turns out, the one from TJ Maxx ($12.99 as opposed to the $4.50 - $8.50 range from the resale shoppe) went better with the other dresses and really was more what I was looking for... so. $12.99 broke my resolution. I don't actually feel badly about it though for several reasons. Mainly that I love Mags and she's been doing so great at potty training and I'm just so proud of her. I really wanted her to have something special. So see, totally a good reason to break my resolution. But now, I'm back on the No Baby Clothes from now on. I'll be returning the other dresses to the store this week. :)

Sorry I've been sort of slow-going with the posts this week. I know I STILL have not posted about my tailbone injury. Gosh, it's just that I feel like it's a story full of complaints. Basically, my tailbone/pelvis is still in recovery from giving birth to Snowdrop. It's a touchy (ha) situation. It's frankly kind of embarrassing!! So I'm going back to PT. I love my physical therapist so I'm glad we'll get to hang a bit more BUT I'm tired of this tailbone. I just want to feel like I did before Snowdrop came out. I joked a few months after she was born that I should have opted for the repeat c-section instead of the VBAC. At that time, I figured I would be healing shortly.... A year later, I'm definitely thinking I should have gone for a c-section!!! :) Oh well, can't turn back time and I'm not getting into this now so..... Moving on...

The Naptime Momtog has a big day tomorrow with her son, Carsyn, who is having an MRI to investigate his development a little further. Please keep her in your prayers tonight and tomorrow. Please also keep a friend of mine in your prayers. She just went in for her 20 week ultrasound only to discover that her beautiful baby Girl, Annabelle Lucille, has anencephaly. Anencephaly is the absence of a large part of the brain and the skull. It is a terminal issue and Annabelle won't live beyond birth or a few days. I am absolutely heartbroken for my friend and her family. It's quite unimaginable what they must be going through right now... I just wish there was some way I could make everything okay, you know? So if you could say some prayers too for them, please. Thanks!!


I don't mean to leave on such a sad note but I really don't have anything else to say. I'm pooped and I'm going to bed. :)

Crockpot Chicken

I got the original recipe for Crockpot Chicken from Amber at Paint Chips & Frying Pans (she's pretty much a genius!) It's such an easily adaptable recipe, that I have found many ways to prepare it in the last few months. {I also make homemade chicken broth right afterwards using her broth instructions. EDITED TO ADD: My Broth Instructions. I leave the crockpot on overnight - and it's so delightful to wake up to the smell of fresh broth in the morning... I am so weird, I know!} ANYWAYS, so like I was saying, this recipe is easily adaptable. So if you don't like the ingredients I used for my "recipe" then switch out things you would like. Easy Peasy, let's get started. I am including a few pictures to show you how I do this.

I usually get a 3-5 lb chicken, depending on the current price and if I have a coupon (I'll get a really big one if I have a coupon.) We only eat organic meat (or all-natural-as-close-to-organic-without-being-organic-meat). The chicken I used today {JustBare Chicken, which is available at regular grocery stores.} is 3.91 pounds at $2.29/pound. {Organic drumsticks from Trader Joe's cost around $1.99/lb so I think this is a good price around here.} The total was $8.95, and I had a $1 coupon.  This chicken will feed our family (5 of us) for at least 3 days (not every meal, I'm saying at least one meal a day for the next 3 days if not more than that). At regular cost, not counting the coupon, at 3 days of use the chicken cost .59 cents per serving. I think that is a DEAL! And I haven't even rolled in the savings of making my own broth from said chicken. Even more deals to be had there! {I might be trying to make a point that eating organic/all-natural can be affordable when you really break it down! It's so healthy, too!}

Crockpot Chicken

1 Whole Chicken, rinsed well and patted dry

1 - 1/2 good sized Onions {cut up all veggies how you like them}

Some Celery

Some Mushrooms

Some Carrots

Some Garlic

1 good sized Apple

Season Salt and/or Spices {Lawry Salt is a favorite around here! I'm just using season salt today.}

Apple Juice {about 1/2 cup}

All of that goes in a crockpot for 5 1/2 - 6 hours on High. Of course, if you use a really tiny chicken, it won't need 6 hours. Adjust accordingly, okay?

Variations on the above ingredients may include:

Spices other than Season Salt ~ parsley, garlic, basil, oregano, sage, rosemary, thyme, curry variations, southwestern spices, Asian spices, etc 

Liquids other than Apple Juice ~ Champagne/White Wine/Water/Balsamic Vinaigrette/Italian Dressing/Caesar Dressing/Lemon Juice/Orange Juice/Teriyaki/Soy Sauce ~ basically, a flavored liquid (or unflavored, like water)

I adjust the liquid to match the seasonings ~ Lawry Salt pretty much goes with anything. I would totally pair oranges with Asian spices. Or lemons with a garlicky-pepper-Greek sauce. YUM.

Veggies/Fruits ~ I've done this with just potatoes and carrots. I've done this with just potatoes. I've done it without the apple. I've used lemons, and oranges. Anything works as long as you like it. You don't even have to use veggies but I promise it will taste better if you do.

{Part of me imagines stuffing a bird with peanut butter and Asian spices & veggies and dousing it in some sort of soy-ginger-yummy-sauce. Our daughter has a peanut allergy so I can't do this, unfortunately. But YOU could. So do this and then please enjoy it for me, ok?} :)

Note to Parents: I have also found that involving my kids in the slightest way of preparing dinner (letting them dump the veggies in the pot, or put the lid on, or wash the veggies, whatever) helps get me to get them to eat it once it's ready. Just sharing.

This is a really easy peasy recipe but there is some work involved before you can just throw everything in the crockpot. I mean, technically, you could just throw it all in there. But let's do this my way, okay? ;)

Cut up your onions, garlic, carrots, celery, mushrooms, whatever you're using. Cut them however you like. I don't care if they're chopped, diced, in big slices, whatever. Reserve about a handful of the onion & apple so you can stuff those inside the chicken when we get to that part! If you forget or don't feel comfortable sticking your hand inside a chicken, then no biggie. It won't ruin the meal.

Throw the veggies into the crockpot with enough olive oil (or butter, if your daughter isn't also allergic to milk...) to just coat them. Add some of the spices (the rest are going on the chicken). Let that cook down for a bit while you rinse your chicken very well and pat it dry. {The Pioneer Woman was once very insistent on her blog about rinsing meat well before you cook it. I haven't looked back since and am a rigid meat rinser now. Not that I wasn't before... but just so much more diligent about it now.}

Now, rub the meat (haha) with the spices and let it sit there for a minute. Then take the extra handful of onion/apples/whatever you saved to stuff the bird with, and stuff that bird. It doesn't have to be stuffed full but I think a little bit of something inside the bird helps to flavor it. I usually try to close it up with toothpicks since I don't have those fancy meat hook-closer things.

{sorry, forgot to rotate this}

Stir the veggies one more time and gently place the chicken right on top of them. 

Put the lid on the crockpot and set the timer.

I normally cook a bird for 6 hours on High. It's probably ready around 5 1/2 hours and sometimes we eat it then. Do what makes you comfortable, I err on the side of overcooking just in case. :) 

Also, some people feel okay leaving the crockpot on when you leave the house. 

I'm a 'fraidy cat so I don't do that but you can if you own big girl pants.

About an hour after you put the bird in (or really, you can do this WHEN you put the bird in, I just normally do it a bit later), take a bit of juice/dressing/liquid you have chosen to use (I usually just eyeball it ~ it's about 1/2 cup) and drizzle it over the bird. You don't want to drown the bird in liquid. I wouldn't put much more than 1/2 cup in there because the chicken will make it's own liquid, too. I usually flip the chicken over around the halfway mark & then flip it back again about half hour before I'm gonna serve it. Periodically, spoon some of the juice from the crockpot over the chicken. I *think* this is called Basting?

The chicken always comes out nice & juicy, and the veggies are nice and yummy too. {Mine is still cooking so I have no "after" pictures yet.} And like I mentioned, this lasts us for DAYS. We use it for sandwiches, snacks, with potatoes, it can go into soup, tacos, etc. 

It's so versatile as far as recipes go and I couldn't be happier! 

This is one of my favorite things to make and my family LOVES it. I can't beat that!

{After dinner, I take all the meat off the bones & then I stick the bones and all the other "stuff" back into the crockpot with some more veggies and spices (especially a bay leaf or two!). I cover that with water and crockpot it for another 10-12 hours on low to make my own broth. When that's done & cooled, I drain the liquid and package 2 cups/ziplock. And then I freeze them flat so I can store them like files in my freezer. I will take pictures when I make the broth and post a true how-to on that soon.}

Serve This Main Dish With:

Veggies ~ either the ones in there, or extras. Go-To's for Us: green beans or asparagus or corn.
Potatoes ~ mashed, fried, wedged, diced, twice-baked, once-baked, half-baked, whatever

Side Salad, Fruit Salad, Pasta Salad

Rolls, Cornbread, Croissants, Pita, Taco Shells, whatever

Stuffing & Fixings

Gravy. Or not. It's so juicy!!

I think it's important to always serve dinner with a vegetable. And I think it's nice to have some bread, too.

Thanks for reading! I hope this recipe is as easy for you as it has been for me. Add it to your repertoire! 

You won't be sorry! :)

EDITED TO ADD MY BROTH INSTRUCTIONS.

How to Feed Soup to a Baby/Young Toddler

Do you ever wonder how you can get your baby/young toddler to eat soup? Without you having to spoon feed it to them and interrupt your own eating? 

This is how I do it. 

Be sure to cut up any large chunks of meat, veggies, or noodles. And be sure to cut the bread to an appropriate size for your child. And don't make the soup too hot or it will burn your child.

Home!

So we just got back from a weekend visit to my parents house. I scheduled some posts. I bet you didn't even know! Well, maybe you did if you were on my Twitter. I was twittering from Hubby's phone a bit... I had never done that before... but I really enjoyed it and now I want to be able to do it from MY phone. SO not something I "need". But it is something I "want". Ha! :)

It was my little brother's 15th birthday and he was also getting confirmed. A really BIG weekend for him, in fact!! I can't believe he is that old already!! I was 14 when he was born so... I really remember him as a baby. We actually had a pretty pleasant weekend & I'll share some pictures this week from our trip! We drove, of course, and the ride went really well! We splurged on a car dvd player with two screens. It was really time, anyways. The one we normally use for car trips is just a portable dvd player and so we had to rig it up in the car. This way is better, and now Junie has a screen in front of her instead of having to look to the side to "sort of" see it. The girls were really happy with the surprise! We said it was because "they" were doing so well with going on the potty. It was really just Magnolia who is doing so well, but we're trying to inspire Junie to do better at it. I think it worked a little bit as she went on the potty a decent amount this weekend. We'll see... fingers crossed. Tomorrow she is going to wear Tinkerbell und.er.wear. She told us so.

I am exhausted and have lots of comments to look at and people to get back to {How exciting! Comments are one of my favorite parts about blogging ~ I LOVE knowing that people are reading and what they're thinking! So thanks for commenting!}.. and a pizza to eat in the next 25 minutes ~ I hope it gets here sooner because we are SO. FREAKIN'. HUNGRY. We didn't really have much in the car to snack on and of course, we had nothing at home since we had been gone! So tomorrow, I'll take the girls to the grocery store... which will not be exciting. I don't know, maybe it will? Maybe we'll be like the millionth customer and get free groceries for life. If that happens, I pledge to buy someone groceries once a month. I'll "giveaway" a week of groceries on my blog, okay? Okay.

I'll try and get some pictures posted in the next couple days... and I'll definitely be posting tomorrow about some stuff. I'm super excited for this week's Vloggin' Vednesday and participate in this week's Shoot & Edit. Thanks for stopping by my blog! I hope you had a great weekend. :)

Cute Pictures of My Baby & Allergy Notes

Super Fabulous, Jr.

This girl really loves her Mr. Froggy. 

Hope you are having a wonderful Saturday! :)

The allergist appointment went really well on Thursday. The doctor was really nice and spent so much time answering our questions. We don't have to worry about the black walnut tree in our yard so long as Snowdrop is not eating the nuts... YAY! I was worried we'd have to move or something. I always go right to the worst! :) It was reassuring to go and I'm feeling a bit better about the whole thing. She said that, of course, if something happened where she started having a serious reaction to the shells... we should act appropriately and then call the office. It's really scary thinking about how fast the whole reaction happened and that it could potentially happen again.

I feel so much more comfortable now, as far as taking her places, like museums, the zoo, etc. We just have to bring the EpiPen and some Benedryl, just in case. I don't have to be worried about nuts and the pool at my in-laws ~ apparently there's enough water that it shouldn't matter if someone eats nuts and then goes into the pool. It still makes me nervous as hell though...

The doctor gave us a handout of "How to Read a Label" with some informative stuff on types of food with nuts or milk in it. It even said "nondairy products" in the section of things that could have milk in it. I was confused by that part. She also gave us a really helpful page that had symptoms of a reaction and then "EpiPen" or "Antihistamine". She check-marked the right medicine to use in the case of each reaction. This is really helpful for me to have it all written out like that.

What I'd like to do at this point {you know, in all my free time}, is gather a list of peanut-free brands of cereals, crackers, ice creams, whatever other foods... I guess I'd organize it so people with new peanut allergies could have an easier transition? I'd sorta like a list like that myself to make things a slight bit easier to find at the stores, and I'm not sure one exists... Anyone??

Okay. Off to enjoy this Saturday!! Have a great rest of your weekend! I'm taking a break from Scavenger Hunt Sunday this week. Boo, I know! But I need a day of rest. :) 

PS. My baby brother is FIFTEEN today. FIFTEEN. I can hardly believe it!!

Shoot & Edit ~ Up, SOOC

Good to Wow ~ Shoot & Edit Challenge

UP

Come back on Thursday to see how I edit this one!

I'm not sure it's so bad to begin with! :) 

Head on over to Jill's blog to enter your SOOC shot! On Thursday, go to Ashley's blog to enter your edited picture ~ and to check out all the other awesome edits! 

Thanks for stopping by! :)