Would Spring please finally make an appearance...

Is that TOO much to ask? LOL

Thank goodness that it's sunny and seasonable today because after yesterday, I had to look at the calendar and make sure we weren't back in January.

I'm itching to get outside and get some early spring seeds planted and get my deck cleaned and organized. I also haven't got to organize my new potting shed either and the baskets I bought for it from ebay have arrived, but I need hubby's help.

I'm glad that tomorrow is my regular Monday off. I'm going to sleep in a bit and then I have a physical at 1:00pm with my family doctor.

Finished a couple of pages this weekend in between commitments, chores and errands.

I didn't have any photos but I saved the memorabilia from the show -


Wasn't sure what I wanted to do with these photos, but it's hard to get good photos of the two of them together -


Next weekend if the weather cooperates, we are tackling the garage......

Trying to get back into my routine...

I swear whenever I take time off, it takes me forever to get back into my routine. I've had the damnest time getting back to the gym. I took some time off because I think it's good to do that. I still did some walking and biking, but I hadn't been to the gym in about 2 weeks.

Last Friday, I went to "The Good Feet" store and bought myself a custom arch supports. I have trouble with Plantar Facistis (sp?) off and on and I haven't had a flair up in about 7 years until recently. My left foot has been hurting to the point where I was starting to limp a week ago or so. I've been treated by a podiatrist for the condition and know what foot stretches I need to do, but I also had "The Good Feet" store recommended by quite a few people I know.

Because I got my new supports, my feet did hurt a bit for a few days (which was to be expected) and I didn't want to over do it with exercise, so I gave myself a break.

I got home from work this evening and changed clothes and hopped on my bike to ride to the gym before I changed my mind. I'm so glad I did....it helped me get my motivation back. I'm even going to get up and go tomorrow morning at 5:00 because Darci the Devil is giving a FREE butt busting class.

On the iPod Playlist today:
Dirty Diamonds - Alice Cooper
Just Like Living in Paradise - David Lee Roth
Rock Me Gently - Andy Kim
You're Going to Get Whats Coming - Robert Palmer
Make it Last (originally by Montrose, covered by Tesla)
New Sensation - INXS
Almost Honest - Megadeath
Your Love - The Outfield
Sounds of Silence - (originally by Simon & Garfunkel, covered by Shaw/Blades)
Leave the Pieces - The Wreckers
Long Time Til I Get Over You - Little Feat
Wake Up Call - Maroon 5
I Just Wanna Make Love to You - Foghat
I Don't Want It - Montrose

In order to get up 1/2 hour earlier tomorrow to get to class, I gotta get to bed, but I wanted to share this photo I found online that I'm totally digging and am keeping for inspiration if I ever redo our living room or we build a new home.



Oh, and aren't these the coolest freaking cutting boards? Yea, $85 bucks worth of cool...It's from the MoMA Store



later....

Only One More Day.....

Tomorrow is my last day of vacation.....sigh...

Had a nice Sunday with my family. Since Dad is here from Las Vegas and Tuesday is Gunner's 7th birthday, we decided to celebrate today with a Turkey Dinner. Gunner's favorite! We had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce and birthday cake for dessert. Took lots of photos of the birthday boy, but I haven't uploaded them yet.

Finished spray painting an old wire baker's rack that I've had for years. It was in the enclosed porch in the old house and when we moved here, it went out in the garage to use for storage of garden and lawn supplies. I decided to spray paint it and use it on our deck. I have a perfect spot for it. I'll share photos eventually.

Decided to mix up the exercise today. Instead of walking or going to the gym, I jumped on my bike and rode for about 4.5 miles and a good portion of the ride was into the wind which is excellent resistance and really gives you a good workout.

On the iPod playlist today:
Thorn In My Pride - The Black Crowes
Free Your Mind - En Vogue
The Crow & The Butterfly - Shinedown
Mississippi - Train
Bent - matchbox twenty
Got No Shame - Brother Kane

I've got to go get pet food tomorrow and I really need to wipe down the inside of my car, but I'm hoping to get some time to scrapbook....I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Vacation - Day 3

Had a stinking blast at the Nickelback concert the other night! Had one too many beers and suffered the headache the next day, but damn it was worth it! That's the third time I've see Nickelback and they didn't disappoint. Loved the opening bands also. Seether freaking ROCKED! I think a couple highlights for me were Seether's cover of "Careless Whisper" by WHAM. I've heard it on their website before and was glad to be able to see them do it live. Another treat was Shaun Morgan from Seether coming out on stage with Nickelback and doing a cover of Filter's "Hey Man, Nice Shot". It was awesome!

Here's are a few of the rock chicks that night (photo courtesy of Jenni E.). Missing are my sister, Carsen and my hubby....they are somewhere behind us...



Spent Thursday recuperating from the night before. My Dad is back in town. My Uncle Dic is not doing well. He had to have a defibulator installed and they are having a hard time getting him off the ventilator, so yesterday they did a tracheotomy. He's rested comfortably and Dad is going to stay until next week. I will probably go and visit Sunday.

My girlfriend Dianne came over yesterday and we did a little bit of scrapbooking. It was really good to spend some time with her. It's been far too long.

Last night I veged out with my John Grisham book "The Associate". I gotta give him credit for snagging you with his story, but I sure hope the ending is better than some of them have been. Although I enjoy his books, I can't help by feel that he seems to be writing them in anticipation of the movie. KWIM?

This morning I went for a walk/jog for 35 minutes. Yes, I am starting to jog. I only do it for a minute at a time, but I like the way it gets my heart rate up and really works it, then I slow it back down. I've taken a bit of break from the gym the last week and I have missed it, so it really felt good to push myself this morning.

On the iPod playlist today:

Signed, Sealed, Delivered - Stevie Wonder
Better Now - Collective Soul
Gone - Fuel
I Am an Illusion - Rob Thomas
My My - Seven Mary Three
If I Never See Your Face Again - Maroon 5
Start the Car - Jude Cole
All I Wanna Do - Sheryl Crow

Have a great Friday!

Vacation Day!

YEA! Connor and I both slept in until 8:00 when we had to get up and get ready to go to the orthodontist. Today is the DAY! Dr. Rovner decided that he was only going to put on the top braces today, wait 3 months and then install the bottom braces. Something about his bite and if they put the bottom braces on, when he bit down, they would probably not stay on. It only took an hour and Connor doesn't seem any worse for wear. I think I've made him brush his teeth at least twice since we've been home and he won't let me take a picture today. But I will.....I always do...{{{evil laugh inserted}}}

It's going to be a long 2 years keeping on top of him about his dental hygiene.

Tonight is the Nickelback concert at Wells Fargo Arena and Fred, myself, my sister Carsen and my girlfriend, Cheri are attending. Three other girlfriends are going also, Gina, Jenni and Joan but we're not sitting together. I'm hoping we see one another there. This will be the third time I've seen them and I'm super excited about seeing Seether and Saving Abel. Thank goodness that the only plans I have tomorrow is my girlfriend Dianne is coming over to learn how to scrapbook. She has a couple of projects in mind and wants me to take a look at them.

The weekend organizing project this weekend is the.....basement.....catcher of all things out of sight. This is what I'm working with here...

BEFORE






I really want to get rid of stuff down there. Other than Connor legos (a small fortune that could feed a small country), the rest he doesn't play with any more, so it needs to go to a boy or girl who will play with it.

Just since last week, when I listed a bunch of stuff on Craigslist and made a nice tidy sum of money, I might add, it looks a bit better but after this weekend, it will be ready to possibly start framing. We are in no hurry to finish it, but I want to get it in shape in case Fred does decide to start. We have a bunch of metal studding that he collected off our job sites when he was in carpentry and the framing and electrical come first. I don't expect to be done with finishing the basement for a least a couple of years, really no reason other than the resell factor and we're probably not going to go anywhere until Connor graduates from high school.

Have a good week!

Our Weekend Project

Finally, after almost 4 years of having the concrete slab layed in our backyard, we actually bought and put up a garden shed that I've been wanting. It's actually my fault on the procrastination because I wavered several times in deciding "Do I want a shed?" or "Do I want a Gazebo?" or "Do I want a covered swing?", but in the end, the garden shed won out.

We decided on a pre-fab Rubbermaid Big Max that I found online at Home Depot and Fred was able to pick up right down the street from where he works. It's only 7 1/2' X 7 1/2', but that's all I need for my potting bench, my roto-tiller, my broadcaster, my tools and all my various pots. I even have enough room on the slab to have a couple of pots of plants by the doors. It's really cute and I love that it has 4 little skylight windows in the roof and little arched windows in the doors.


In the beginning....


Walls are going up, Connor helping....


Walls are up, doors are on and they're working on the roof....


Roof peak is on, on to the rest of the roof...


The finishing touches....



and here she is.....her so pretty.....lol




My future plans are to create a new flower bed on the side closest to the bike trail, but I need to think about it for awhile.

I'm so glad to have this project done....now on to the basement next weekend....

Spring Break!

YEA! I'm on vacation today and then Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of next week and then Monday, the 23rd! Connor and I are just hanging out today at home. Next Wednesday, he'll be getting his braces and then that night, it's the Nickelback concert! Next Thursday, my oldest and dearest friend, Dianne is coming over to the house and I'm going to give her scrapbook lessons. Dianne and I have known each other since we were 5-6 years old and even though we might go months without seeing one another, we're always there for one another at a moments notice.

Earlier this week, I said that I would share pictures of my newly purged, cleaned and organized food pantry. It's been a work in progress for a few weeks, going through all the food, cleaning off containers and bottles and then putting it back. Last weekend, my boys and I even emptied the refridgerator and cleaned it also.


Here's looking at the pantry:



On the door of the pantry, I've mounted two small bulletin boards. This is where I'll post our weekly menu (Fred likes knowing what we're having for dinner). I've have the stuff to make 5 different meals and we can choose which one we want for that night. We don't have to stick to an exact schedule and we don't. I also tack recipes for those meals if it's a new one or one we don't know by heart. It's also where I'll tack recipes I want to try in the immediate future.





Here's inside the pantry:


On the floor of the pantry is where the recycle bin for soda pop bottles and cans is, where we keep liters of soda, my asian pot and bamboo hat and iris carts that store our dusting supplies and all of our paper goods such as paper sacks, garbage bags, storage and freezer bags.


Bottom Shelf where the bread, cereal, chips and snacks are located:



The next shelf holds the canned vegies, fruit, crackers, popcorn, jello boxes, ramen noodles:



On this shelf are canned soups, pasta, sauces, condiments, packaged foods:



On this higher shelf are all of the baking goods:


On the top (not pictured) is where we keep the extra paper goods like paper towels, napkins, lightbulbs. I think there are even a few bottle of liquor up there also which comes in extremely handy after tackling a job like this!

Hope you enjoyed my tour of our food pantry...lol...or "Man, does she have too much time on her hands or what?"....lol

A Rainy Sunday

Thank goodness it's not any colder than it is or we really would have had a mess on on hands earlier today. I did the grocery shopping this morning and when I left the house it was drizzling and when I came out of the store, it was *snowing*, BIG, FAT, WET flakes and it was sticking too, but it's to be expected this time of year. Here in Iowa we have to get past the Girls/Boys State Basketball Tournaments before we can breathe a sign of spring.

I've been meaning to share my pantry project with you as I've been cleaning it out and organizing it. I didn't have the luxury of having a pantry in our old house and I love having one here. It could even be bigger and our next house, It will definitely be a room by itself, but this one fits us nicely here. You'll have to come back by sometime this week to see the photos. In the meantime, Better Homes and Gardens had a great link to some awesome Pantry Storage Ideas. It is definitely worth a look!

I've plunged headlong into recipe organization. This is how it started out -



I have my "Want to Try" recipe box on the left, my "Tried & True" recipe basket on the right and a tray full of recipes that needs sorting and purging. I've already purged my "Tried & True" recipe basket and the only recipes in it are the ones that we know we like and we have either frequently or occasionally.



I decided on my categories and started sorting the pile of recipes by categories. I was surprised how many recipes were duplicated, so those definitely went into the "Want to Try" box.



I'm almost done with purging and organizing the recipes in these piles, I've got desserts left to do and I'll be done! Now, when I want to try a new meal, I have a box to go to and if I want to plan a meal that I know we like, I go to my recipe basket.

Next up....the food pantry

Is Spring finally here?

It looks like it's going to be pretty nice today.....high in the 50's...YEA! I'm ready to get out into my yard and do some gardening. I'm thinking about tilling up another flower bed this year, but I haven't made the final decision yet. Fred just rolled his eyes at me when I broached the subject....lol

Working from home today, taking a break to update my blog. I've got a big WebEx meeting at 11:00am that's going to go on for at least 2 hours, so I'm going to have to work through my normal lunch but after the meeting is over, I'm heading back to the gym today.

Went to the gym yesterday after work and did a 45 minute workout. 20 minutes on the elliptical and 25 minutes of strength training. I swear, sometimes I sweat more doing the strength training than when I'm doing cardio and that's a good thing!

On the iPod playlist yesterday:
Somebody Told Me - The Killers
Leave the Pieces - The Wreckers
Girlfriend - Matthew Sweet
Flash Tan Queen - REO Speedwagon
New Tatoo - Saving Abel
I'm With You - Avril Lavigne
Dirty Diamonds - Alice Cooper
No Time - The Guess Who
No Souvenirs - Melissa Etheridge

I'm kicking ass on my recipe organization. Got all the purging done the other night and my "Tried and True" recipe box is looking good, now I'm sorting, purging and organizing the "Want to Try" recipes. Thanks for all of your great ideas! You all are much more organized in this department that I am.