Nothing Is Finished

So, I have not blogged in a LONG while. Everything is absolutely crazy right now, and nothing is completely finished so I have no 'complete' thoughts to post.

Project #1- Weight loss
     I grew up a fat-kid. After my Junior year of high school, I decided I was no longer going to be fat so I lost a ton of weight. I did good in keeping it off till I got pregnant with Little#1.  I gained 100 pounds, literally. Not proud. Well, about a year and a half ago I decided to really get back on it, and lose the the baby weight (the youngest was over 2). Yeah, I'm a little slow. Anyway, I refused to be the 'fat girl' in a friend's wedding. So I was successfull and lost 77 pounds in about 6 months. I weighed about a month ago and realized I had put 30 back on. NOT HAPPENING! Holy crap! So....Long story short....I have no great new recipes to post because the Mister and I are dieting (like lettuce and protein). So far I have lost 15, and have 48 more to go.

Project #2- The Farmhouse Table
    I showed the table in a previous post. I am still so proud of it.  The benches took a back burner to everything else, and we have managed to put them off till this past weekend. Off to Lowe's we went to pick up lumber.  There was not a good selection so we made due with enough lumber to make one. Mister cut it out and put it together, and I put the first coat of stain on it about 2 hours ago, so there will be a post on it soon.

Project #3- Homeschool
     The littles are doing great with homeschool. This was a surprise, and not something that I had planned or strove to do.  Again, we live in an area with HORRIBLE schools. We decided to go through the summer, and I am so glad. We have finally gotten into a comfortable groove, and I am actually enjoying it.  They amaze me with how quick they pick up stuff! They are all officially ahead of what the public schools require.  I am so proud of them.  We are also enjoying the freedom it gives us. They do school in the mornings before lunch, and then they are free the rest of the day. We also can take 2 weeks off for Thanksgiving instead of Christmas!

Project#4- Full Remodel
    We are about half way through a full remodel.  We were only suppose to be here in Texas for a year, but that changed on us.  We found out we are stuck here for 2 more years. I decided to fully remodel my house because I really was not happy with it.

•  Floors (acid staining the concrete)
• Walls (Grey throughout entire house)
• Swapped the littles' rooms
• Knobs
• Light fixtures
• Redo Cabinetry throughout
• New trim around windows

     Oh yeah....we finished the girls' room.

  This is the only room that's done. We wanted to test one room before we tore the entire house apart because the acid staining is a 50/50 thing. It either turns out beautiful or does not work at all. We are completely tickled! The picture truly does it no justice. The light glare makes it look like something was on it, but it's supper shiny! Oh, and we spray painted the cheap brass ceiling fan to oil rubbed bronze and I absolutely love it! I am going to hit up LOWES when the entire house is finished and buy different globes for all the fans.

   Once this was done, I began tearing up the rest of my floors.  Let me tell you, this is a HUGE job! I did not realize how much work this would be on my own. The house is 2600 square feet, and I am a one-man band. Right now, all the old flooring is up except the kitchen and classroom, and it's vinyl.  Vinyl is the worst! All the trim is piled in my garage, and all our belongings are boxed up in random corners of the house. I hate the mess.  We are also going to build new beds for little #1 and our master.  Right now our mattress and his mattress are on the floors. Not a happy place.  Hopefully, it will all be complete within the next 2 weeks. I cannot wait! The house will finally be normal again, and I will have tons of pictures and goodies to post.

Project #5- The yard

    I have no idea what to do with it.  I am thinking of painting the front door navy and planting hydrangeas in the front flowerbed. I am also checking into pricing on screening in my back porch. The squirels are butt-holes. They keep tearing up my patio furniture and stealing my potted flowers. Little demon spawns from Hell. Yeah, I said it. They are bullies and make my Rotty cry. Seriously...tiny fur covered douche bags.

Project #6- Christmas

   We have decided not to do the crazy Christmas that we always do. We spend tons of money on sooooo much stuff and within 2 months, half of it is broken or forgotten. I threw away and donated 7 black 50 gallon sacks of toys when prepping their rooms for the floors. This year we are doing a big gift and few meaningful presents, and that's it. We are building #3 and # 2 a kitchen set, and #1 a Lego station. They will get some doll clothes, accessories, and Legos so there will be some small things to open, but no more. No more fillers. We have become a society that does not appreciate the quality of things in our life. It seems that everyone has joined a race to aquire more stuff than anyone else. We do not step back, and appreciate the good things in our lives. I refuse to raise children that follow this same ungrateful cycle. Anyway, back to the point. I am excited to get all these pieces built and finished so I can share them.

So there you have it. All my craziness in one little bundled up description. I look forward to sharing the finished projects!

Homeschool

We recently pulled the littles from our public school system and began Homeschooling.  The littles were continuously coming home bruised and beaten up.  Everytime anything was questioned, I always recieved the same responses of no knowledge of an incident, or of them blatantly being harmed by other children.  Anytime this was questioned I would be told how those children came from "troubled homes". My question was "Don't you think if their parents had been held accountable, instead of excuses, that these kids wouldn't be coming from "troubled homes?"  If their parents were held accountable now, things would be different. Make them get a job instead of mooching off the government while staying home doing drugs.

Anyway, back to the subject- Homeschooling

We are brand new to this and still have a lot of learning.  Our back room was empty so we made a classroom.

We tend to be a little on the thrifty side so I made sure to look into getting items I needed for the best value.  My first need was a large white board.  I checked several stores and websites, but they were all so expensive.  I checked about paints and what-not. Then it dawned on me: White bathroom paneling. Off to LOWES I went! I paid $11 for a 4x8 sheet. It works great for my dry-erase board. We actually framed out one of the windows for it and then added cheap 1x3's for trim. I made our calendar with the left over piece. I drew out a calendar grid in permanent marker and used stick-on numbers and month. This also gave me the option to fill in weather with my dry-erase marker.

Every classroom needs tons posters and visual stimulation. I found some great posters at Dollar Tree. You get 2 for just $1! I then laminated them so I can use dry-erase markers when teaching. We found their desks at Big Lots for $9 and I hotglued their name tags and supply baskets (pencil dividers from Dollar Tree) to the tops. Oh, and my desk came from our local thrift store. $6 for the locking desk, and it even had the keys!

We still have a long way to go, but today was our first day of school, and it was extremely gratifying to teach the littles and see them respond with excitement.  They did awesome! I am thankful that I am able to do this with them.  We decided to do this because of horrible circumstances, but it has turned out to be a gift to our family. I will be posting more on our system in the future. Right now we are figuring this out. I have a couple of ciriculum resources that I'm using, I'll let you know which work best.

Happy Homeschooling!

Memorial Day Dedication

I'm sure if you are on Facebook, you have seen all the dedications to the veterans and Fallen.  To some this is an abstract thought, but to this family, Memorial Day is an important day.  Yes, my husband is in the military, but in the past 9 years we have lost some extremely good friends. These were friends that have changed our lives for the better.  There is no greater gift than lives lost protecting our country and freedom.  Our home has always been known for the place to come for "Momma" to feed you.  We have celebrated holidays, births, deaths, and just good times jammed into small houses with small tables. It never mattered where we lived, or how many people, all that mattered was Family and camaraderie, a place to gather and share a meal, and know we all loved each other.  Over the years we have gained so many friends that became family.  With that said, we also lost friends that will also be family.

After a lot of sweat and a little blood, the table is finished.  We felt it was appropriate to put it together today. Now we have a proper family table for the ones that are still with us.  As we come together to celebrate occasions, we will always the remember the one that no longer are here to gather.

Happy Memorial Day

Thank you to all that serve and to the families of the Fallen.

We used the plans found at http://ana-white.com/2012/11/plans/triple-pedestal-farmhouse-table 

If you are in the market for building home furniture be sure to check out her website.  It is absolutely amazing.

Pinterest Daily

Soooo, like many other ladies in the world, I have discovered Pinterest! Oh yes! I realized last week that I use it everyday. I use it for cooking, sewing, cleaning, and trying home remedies. I have found some awesome things, and I have ended up with some horrible non-edible messes. I am just amazed at how technology has given us an outlet to share the neatest ideas. Again, just another awe moment on technology, and yes, I truly believe our phones are powered by magic. With all that said, I'm going to start blogging my Pinterest adventures every few days. Hopefully you will find some great inspiration, or maybe just a good laugh. One thing that will be clear, is how much of a total dork I really am.

Monday- I was reading a blog on tons of things to do with old baby beds. You would not believe how clever some people really are. I was not in the need of  any benches or tables, but I NEEDED a puppy gate for my Rotties. I love them with all my heart and we kennel them at night, but sometimes I just need to contain them for just a bit in their own room. It gets a little crazy sometimes with the littles and dogs, and company, and the mailman, and the random doorbell ringing. Gracie (my hateful heeler) just jumps it because she thinks she's not a dog :-) After a few measurements, Mr.Man and I set off to the garage. He used the jigsaw to cut out simple U's for the gate to rest in because I hate the swinging. It always ends up broke in my house. Then I measured the doorway and cut the sliding side of the bed to fit. Ta-Da!

Not too bad if I say so myself. *Pictured is my sweet Lucy*

Tuesday- This was my regular bread day, no pinning. I make all our breads homemade and freeze them so they are ready whenever I need a bread. I like this better than the prefab biscuits. This way I KNOW what's in them. *Unfortunately, I do not get to eat any for awhile because I'm still 'fluffy'. It is nice to have in the mornings for the littles. I can pop a few biscuits in while they get dressed, and BAM, hot breakfast before the bus. I made 6 batches of regular biscuits, 2 batches of cheesey biscuits, 2 batches of cinnamon rolls, and some loaf bread. I just wish strawberry season would hurry up and get here so I can stock up on my preserves. 

Wednesday- Oh for all that is good and holy, I made the best burgers. I found a Pin that had no link. It was a picture of a burger with a pineapple slice wrapped in bacon. I knew this would be great! I used my usual burger recipe and then just added the goodness. Not sure if you're drooling yet, but you should!

Pineapple-Bacon-Burgers

2 pounds ground beef

1/2 cup diced onion

1/2 cup Dale's

Sliced pineapples

1 pound bacon

• Mix beef, onion, and Dale's
• Pat out patties  
• Top with pineapple
• Wrap with uncooked bacon

I assume you could grill these, but I fried them in my cast iron on the stovetop on medium-high. I used a lid so that the burgers would cook through faster without burning the outside.

Now today was the kicker.

Thursday- Honey Mustard Chicken topped with cheese, bacon, and mushrooms. For the Original Post Let me tell you, it was AMAZING! Erika was on the money with this recipe! Be sure to check their blog for some really great recipes. I used my trusty cast iron and there are no words for how good it came out! I followed her recipe except for the cheese, I didn't have Monterey so I just used cheddar. The honey mustard glaze was the best I have ever tasted. This is definitely a MUST! 

Thanks for reading! Bare with me and I promise to get better at this. Next week I will remember to take more pictures.

Oh, and as always, don't forget to smile.