How long has it been since you've cleaned out your closets? Since we've lived in our house now for 2 years, I decided it was time to deep clean the house from top to bottom - which includes wiping down the logs - not a job I cherish but they get dusty too!
I decided to start at the top - our bedroom - and my goal is to do one room a month - it surely can't be THAT difficult to accomplish this tiny goal in a month's time - I figure this way I'll have the house completely done by summertime - (those that know me will be thinking, yea right, she'll have the entire house done in 3 months) - and secretly I hope that I do!!
But as you know, we don't stay home a lot on weekends and I have found that when you get home after work and it gets dark within an hour, it's more difficult to get cleaning projects done - I prefer daylight! Hence, the fact it's almost the end of January and I haven't got the bedroom done YET!
I am working on it - I've cleaned the dresser and cedar chest, I've cleaned the 2 nightstands and a couple nights ago, I cleaned out the 2 closets - hence the reason for this blog!
Our one closet (if you can even call it that) is lined up against the roofline with a wall built a few feet out - so the closet is just like a triangle - in fact the part up against the bathroom wall is so angled that I literally have to crawl in - yes, it's quite a sight!
Anyway, as I was crawling to the end of the closet (it's LONG and narrow of course) with flashlight in hand, I discovered things that I had no idea I had put in that closet when we moved in!! 4 Easter baskets????? Give me a break - why the heck were they in there when all the other Easter decorations were in a tub in the storage room? A great find - a table lamp (that I forgot we had) with a swivel arm that I immediately took down and put above our computer so we can actually SEE the computer at night! Another find - an almost empty box but it had rocks and seashells that I use to decorate (it was taken to the storage room also!)
The Goodwill bag got larger and larger with clothes we no longer wear and 2 lampshades that I was saving for what reason?
The bedroom WILL be finished this weekend - and then it will be on to the next room - I can hardly wait to see what I stashed away in the office closet!
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
Suite Retreat 2010
It seems impossible that it's already been a year since I wrote about LAST year's Suite Retreat!
But this last weekend was THEE weekend and I eagerly anticipated it! I've got the scrap booking packing down to a science by now - that doesn't mean I take any LESS than the year before but I know how and where to pack all my things!
I met Jaime at the Embassy Suites in Colorado Springs on Friday afternoon and we eagerly checked in and set up in our room! It was a little strange not having either Jill OR Jessi with us this year - and the other main difference is that our consultant was the ONLY one there with her group so it was a lot quieter! Based on our newspapers survey of occupancy in the hotels being at a lower level than last year, I quickly discovered that it was true - not a lot of people!
We always enjoy Happy Hour with snacks and following that, a catered meal from our consultant - and then it's down to scrap booking! Jaime was doing our Disneyworld trip and I was just doing regular photos from the summer!
We set the IPOD base up and would switch out between Jaime's and I's IPOD as we have the same one, but the music was definitely different! I found some songs on her IPOD that I wanted and vice versa - so that was fun!
Let's see, did I eat over the weekend - oh my - cashews, macadamia nuts, pistachios, dried cherries, goldfish, chocolate, shrimp cocktail, apple cider - and the list goes on......... I always enjoy their made to cook breakfasts and this year they had a new juice, guava passion, and it was great!
In between calling Jessi and Jill to let them know how many pages we had gotten done and remind them of how much FUN we were having, we managed to accomplish a lot! I ended up getting 34 pages done and I think Jaime had 16 or so completed (due to the fact she had a lot of sorting pics and memorabilia to do first).
All in all, a great weekend! And already plans for next year's event - our consultant already gave us the date and we discovered that we might be able to get one of the LARGER suites to accompany 4 of us for just a little bit more money - well worth it when you consider the extra space! We also checked out doing a "late" checkout on Sunday and found out it's a good possibility of that also so we're excited about that!
Jaime headed back to Denver - I had about 4 hours to kill as Glenn was already in the area installing granite and we were to go to the next town, Falcon, late afternoon to have dinner with friends! So I went to a movie - The Blind Side - excellent movie to see if you're looking for a good one! I actually got in line for popcorn and soda, knowing just a small of each would be plenty for me - the price for a small popcorn was $5.40 - unbelieveable - a small drink was $3.95 - I chose to walk away at that point - hooray for me - how can they POSSIBLY charge that much?
After the movie, I shopped for a little bit (more scrap booking supplies were in order since I used so many during the weekend) and then met Glenn for our dinner date with friends! It was 10:00 when we rolled into home last night and sure enough, just as expected, the maid hadn't been by to clean the house or do the laundry - so guess what I'll be doing tonight?
But this last weekend was THEE weekend and I eagerly anticipated it! I've got the scrap booking packing down to a science by now - that doesn't mean I take any LESS than the year before but I know how and where to pack all my things!
I met Jaime at the Embassy Suites in Colorado Springs on Friday afternoon and we eagerly checked in and set up in our room! It was a little strange not having either Jill OR Jessi with us this year - and the other main difference is that our consultant was the ONLY one there with her group so it was a lot quieter! Based on our newspapers survey of occupancy in the hotels being at a lower level than last year, I quickly discovered that it was true - not a lot of people!
We always enjoy Happy Hour with snacks and following that, a catered meal from our consultant - and then it's down to scrap booking! Jaime was doing our Disneyworld trip and I was just doing regular photos from the summer!
We set the IPOD base up and would switch out between Jaime's and I's IPOD as we have the same one, but the music was definitely different! I found some songs on her IPOD that I wanted and vice versa - so that was fun!Let's see, did I eat over the weekend - oh my - cashews, macadamia nuts, pistachios, dried cherries, goldfish, chocolate, shrimp cocktail, apple cider - and the list goes on......... I always enjoy their made to cook breakfasts and this year they had a new juice, guava passion, and it was great!
In between calling Jessi and Jill to let them know how many pages we had gotten done and remind them of how much FUN we were having, we managed to accomplish a lot! I ended up getting 34 pages done and I think Jaime had 16 or so completed (due to the fact she had a lot of sorting pics and memorabilia to do first).
All in all, a great weekend! And already plans for next year's event - our consultant already gave us the date and we discovered that we might be able to get one of the LARGER suites to accompany 4 of us for just a little bit more money - well worth it when you consider the extra space! We also checked out doing a "late" checkout on Sunday and found out it's a good possibility of that also so we're excited about that!
Jaime headed back to Denver - I had about 4 hours to kill as Glenn was already in the area installing granite and we were to go to the next town, Falcon, late afternoon to have dinner with friends! So I went to a movie - The Blind Side - excellent movie to see if you're looking for a good one! I actually got in line for popcorn and soda, knowing just a small of each would be plenty for me - the price for a small popcorn was $5.40 - unbelieveable - a small drink was $3.95 - I chose to walk away at that point - hooray for me - how can they POSSIBLY charge that much?
After the movie, I shopped for a little bit (more scrap booking supplies were in order since I used so many during the weekend) and then met Glenn for our dinner date with friends! It was 10:00 when we rolled into home last night and sure enough, just as expected, the maid hadn't been by to clean the house or do the laundry - so guess what I'll be doing tonight?
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Monday, January 18, 2010
"Take Five"
Our newspaper, The Gazette, publishes a "Food Section" every Wednesday! And I USED TO look forward to Wednesdays' because in that section, they printed a "Take Five" recipe every week - (I say USED TO very grudgingly because they no longer do it)!! The Take Five recipe was a recipe that ONLY included 5 main ingredients - salt, pepper, sugar and flour were not counted - and the recipes of course were extremely easy!! Most of the time the recipe was cut out of the paper and put in my filebox to try someday!
Which leads me to today's blog - my new recipe of the week is just that, a Take Five recipe! I tried it for dinner tonight and Glenn gave it a thumbs up!
Chicken Picante
1 1/2 cups picante sauce
3 T brown sugar
1 T Dijon mustard
4 boneless chicken breasts (sliced into 2 or 3 slices per breast)
Mix together the picante sauce, sugar and mustard in a bowl - place the chicken in a baking dish in a single layer and pour the sauce over the chicken. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to 1 hour till chicken is thoroughly cooked.
Another easy recipe and it tasted great!! I only used 3 chicken breasts and there was extra sauce so the next time, I will decrease the picante to 1 cup - I used mild picante sauce and would suggest using that if you're serving it to children - but the sauce is easy to just brush off too, just in case you wanted to use a spicier picante! Throwing baked potatos in the oven made it an easy meal! I gave it 4 stars!
Which leads me to today's blog - my new recipe of the week is just that, a Take Five recipe! I tried it for dinner tonight and Glenn gave it a thumbs up!
Chicken Picante
1 1/2 cups picante sauce
3 T brown sugar
1 T Dijon mustard
4 boneless chicken breasts (sliced into 2 or 3 slices per breast)
Mix together the picante sauce, sugar and mustard in a bowl - place the chicken in a baking dish in a single layer and pour the sauce over the chicken. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to 1 hour till chicken is thoroughly cooked.
Another easy recipe and it tasted great!! I only used 3 chicken breasts and there was extra sauce so the next time, I will decrease the picante to 1 cup - I used mild picante sauce and would suggest using that if you're serving it to children - but the sauce is easy to just brush off too, just in case you wanted to use a spicier picante! Throwing baked potatos in the oven made it an easy meal! I gave it 4 stars!
Was There Room For Any More?
Gosh, how much can Glenn and I possibly pack into a weekend? And a short one at that because we didn't head to Denver till Saturday! So here goes - a jam packed weekend in short form!
Friday night - do up the laundry, pack
Saturday morning - breakfast at Hungry Bear in W. Pk ($5.00 coupon, I order my strawberry crepes - Fantastic!) - head to Co. Springs - look at an ATV - it's just what we want - drop off a piece of granite - head to Denver - Jill and Robby are still at Jessi's so Robby introduces me to my new laptop - hold Aleah for a few minutes and they leave - play with Mackenzie and Evan -eat one of Jessi's fantastic cinnamon rolls!
Saturday noon - lunch - Glenn babysits - Jessi and I run to Michaels and then to see the movie, It's Complicated - laugh and laugh - a must see for my generation - back to the house for guac and chips
Saturday evening - over to Jaime's - Brad grills up some chicken - Jaime arrives home from work - Jessi's head home - Jaime and I run to Kohl's where I buy some much needed pants and a new sweater - I take my new laptop to bed and practice without a mouse - I'm not very good
Sunday morning - Brad and Glenn up at the crack at dawn to go ice fishing - I take Rayna and Kylan to church and meet Jessi's there - buy donuts after church - decide that 2 kids eating them in the car is quite messy - drive to Southlands - Caribou Coffee for me to keep my sanity - to Walmart to buy Rayna a zhu zhu pet - try to get gas at Sam's but it won't take my credit card - GRRRRRRR
Sunday noon - Jessi's come over for a while and we play Wii - I don't win (I never do!) - Brad and Glenn get home - pack up and hit the road - stop in CS and buy the ATV (hooray - I'm SO excited for summer so we can use it!!) - head to Cheyenne Mountain Resort where Robby and Jill are - check out the granite and wood bar that Glenn installed there last year - play with Aleah - head to Home Depot - buy under the counter lights for kitchen and drop down lights for dining room - introduce Glenn to Panera Bread - excellent - their mango smoothies are good as ever - arrive home..............
Are you exhausted yet??? A few pics of the little ones - Aleah's are on Jill's camera so they'll have to wait!
I'm Smiling Because............
I HAVE A NEW LAPTOP COMPUTER!!! And I'm really excited about it! I can just picture myself carrying it into a coffee place and setting it up and blogging while I'm drinking coffee - WOW - How fun will this be???
One of the MAIN reasons we got one is because our desk computer is old - I mean REALLY old! It's hung in there for many, many years and of course is completely outdated but it still runs just fine - but I knew that sooner or later we would have to get a new one and that's when the thought of a laptop came to mind!
I just didn't think that we could use a laptop at the house because of our internet connections - living out in the country with mountains all around makes it a little challenging for these types of things but we DO have DSL and are extremely happy with it! But I wanted to be able to use the laptop in the lower level where it is nice and cozy warm and where the TV is!! And of course we have no internet connection downstairs - but a phone call to my super hero Robby confirmed that all I needed was a router to be able to use the laptop downstairs! So the last time he was here, he got it all hooked up and was just waiting for a great deal on a laptop for me - and it came - and he ordered me one - and it's arrived and I'm totally thrilled with it!!
I hooked into Jaime and Brad's internet this weekend so I could check it out and was excited to get home last night and try it at our house - but it wasn't to be - although the signal strength is excellent, there's some type of problem with the password (could it be that I've forgotten what Robby set the password at??) and I couldn't reach Robby last night to figure it out!
But we'll get it up and going tonight - and I'll be sitting in the warm family room, blogging away on my new laptop! And next on the list? A carrying case so we can take it on vacation if we so choose!! Glenn is totally excited about watching a movie on the laptop when we fly! Thanks for all your help Robby -(and expect a phone call from me tonight!!)
One of the MAIN reasons we got one is because our desk computer is old - I mean REALLY old! It's hung in there for many, many years and of course is completely outdated but it still runs just fine - but I knew that sooner or later we would have to get a new one and that's when the thought of a laptop came to mind!
I just didn't think that we could use a laptop at the house because of our internet connections - living out in the country with mountains all around makes it a little challenging for these types of things but we DO have DSL and are extremely happy with it! But I wanted to be able to use the laptop in the lower level where it is nice and cozy warm and where the TV is!! And of course we have no internet connection downstairs - but a phone call to my super hero Robby confirmed that all I needed was a router to be able to use the laptop downstairs! So the last time he was here, he got it all hooked up and was just waiting for a great deal on a laptop for me - and it came - and he ordered me one - and it's arrived and I'm totally thrilled with it!!
I hooked into Jaime and Brad's internet this weekend so I could check it out and was excited to get home last night and try it at our house - but it wasn't to be - although the signal strength is excellent, there's some type of problem with the password (could it be that I've forgotten what Robby set the password at??) and I couldn't reach Robby last night to figure it out!
But we'll get it up and going tonight - and I'll be sitting in the warm family room, blogging away on my new laptop! And next on the list? A carrying case so we can take it on vacation if we so choose!! Glenn is totally excited about watching a movie on the laptop when we fly! Thanks for all your help Robby -(and expect a phone call from me tonight!!)
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Decisions, Decisions..........
Sometimes I have a very hard time making a decision! I think it's because I'm scared of making the WRONG one! And believe me, I've made PLENTY of bad decisons in my lifetime! The only redeeming factor is that you certainly don't make that mistake TWICE!
I'm wrestling with a simple, fun decision right now - whether or now to buy a Wii!! I have the money - courtesy of a bonus from my boss at Christmas! And I always feel that a bonus should be used for something special that "you" want, not just thrown in the checking account to pay for groceries!
But for some reason, I can't bring myself to buy one because of one thing: Will I actually use it??
Yes, Glenn and I both enjoyed playing it at Jaime's and Jessi's house (and if I recall, we actually played it YEARS ago before it was so popular at Teri and Jay's house!!) But what if I buy it (and I would buy the Wii and the Wii Fitness also) and it just sits there in the family room and we never use it? That's what I'm afraid of ..........
Glenn and I are gone so much on weekends that our week nights are usually spent working - getting our weekly chores done along with Glenn many times working out in the shop on a granite job. So by the time that we finally DO sit down, it's usually at least 8:00 or later and by that time, we're tired and only have the energy to watch TV. So would we really get much use out of it??
The flip side of the coin is that if I don't buy a Wii, what would I spend it on? I'm not in want or need of anything right now - but I do know that my next big purchase will probably be a new camera - so maybe I should save the money and eventually put more with it and purchase a new camera - see what I mean???? Decisions, decisions...............
I'm wrestling with a simple, fun decision right now - whether or now to buy a Wii!! I have the money - courtesy of a bonus from my boss at Christmas! And I always feel that a bonus should be used for something special that "you" want, not just thrown in the checking account to pay for groceries!
But for some reason, I can't bring myself to buy one because of one thing: Will I actually use it??
Yes, Glenn and I both enjoyed playing it at Jaime's and Jessi's house (and if I recall, we actually played it YEARS ago before it was so popular at Teri and Jay's house!!) But what if I buy it (and I would buy the Wii and the Wii Fitness also) and it just sits there in the family room and we never use it? That's what I'm afraid of ..........
Glenn and I are gone so much on weekends that our week nights are usually spent working - getting our weekly chores done along with Glenn many times working out in the shop on a granite job. So by the time that we finally DO sit down, it's usually at least 8:00 or later and by that time, we're tired and only have the energy to watch TV. So would we really get much use out of it??
The flip side of the coin is that if I don't buy a Wii, what would I spend it on? I'm not in want or need of anything right now - but I do know that my next big purchase will probably be a new camera - so maybe I should save the money and eventually put more with it and purchase a new camera - see what I mean???? Decisions, decisions...............
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