All American

I love 4th of July Weekend.

I am an all American Girl.

Hope you have a great weekend.

Testing 1,2,3 and Catch Up

I know it's been a long time since I've blogged.

Life has been crazy busy and I have had some technical difficulties.

I usually blog from my laptop but I have some kind of virus on the darn thing. The other problem is my camera has been dropped one too many times. I dropped it when we were in Puerto Rico.

So, you may be asking yourself how am I posting this post? Well, I have decided to try and use my iPad. I get a little crazed with using this darn thing.

I took some pictures with the from my garden and now I am testing it as I sit on my deck.

The kids are playing on their swing set.

I have really missed blogging. Even if no one reads it, I simply enjoy it.

The kids have been out of school for two weeks. We have some great things planned. One of the things we are working on this summer is a bucket list.

If you remember, last summer we did merit badges. The kids really enjoy these activities.

My bucket list is getting checked off. I completed my big thing running in a 5k. I am still running. I really enjoy running. I have started increasing my distance. My speed hasn't gotten any faster. But I keep going. Last week we were in Wildwood and I ran the whole boardwalk one end to the other end. I felt great!! I really enjoyed that the ground was flat. No hills like the Poconos.

The kids had their big Graduation at school. It was so great! They had on their caps and gowns and sang. Needless to say I was crying so much. They are going up so much so fast.

Watching them grow up is so incredible.
They are these amazing little people who say and do the funniest things. I am amazed by them everyday.

I wish you all a happy weekend and a Happy Father's Day weekend.

It's after five o'clock and can only mean one thing. COCKTAIL TIME.

Wish me luck with hitting publish.

Tomato Soup

As promised, I am back with the tomato soup recipe.

I found this recipe from none other then the "Pioneer Woman" cookbook.

Image and recipe from Pioneer Woman

Ingredients

• 6 Tablespoons Melted Butter
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• 1 whole Medium Onion, Diced
• 1 bottle (46 Oz.) Tomato Juice
• 2 cans (14 Oz. Cans) Diced Tomatoes
• 1 Tablespoon (up To 3 Tablespoons) Chicken Base
• 3 Tablespoons (up To 6 Tablespoons) Sugar
• 1 pinch Salt
• Black Pepper To Taste
• 1 cup Cooking Sherry (I did not add this and it was still AWESOME!!) Next time I will put the sherry in.
• 1-1/2 cup Heavy Cream
• Chopped Fresh Parsley
• Chopped Fresh Basil

Preparation Instructions

Sauté diced onions in butter until translucent. Then add canned tomatoes, tomato juice, chicken base, sugar, pinch of salt, black pepper and stir. Bring to a near boil, then turn off heat. Add in sherry and cream and stir. Add in parsley and basil to taste.
Adjust other seasonings and serve with yummy, crusty bread on a cold blustery, dreary, depressing, rainy, snowy day. Then close your eyes.
And give thanks for soups like this.

I made this soup two days before. The longer this soup sits the better it tastes.

I tripled this recipe.

Baby Shower

This past weekend, I had the honor of hosting a baby shower for my sister in law.

She is expecting her sweet baby in March.

We are all excited to meet the newest addition to the family.

I worked to together with my mother in law, Jo's mother, sister, and my father in law's girlfriend.

We started planning way back in December.

If you have been a long time follower, you know that I like to have a theme for any party I throw.

Jo's sister suggested a "Little Golden Book" theme. Apparently, these were Jo's favorite books as a child.

For food, Jo's mom suggested that we have soup and salad for the meal. So, we each made our own soup.

The soups we served were: Pea, Potato Leek, Tortellini Spinach, Chicken, and Tomato.

I made the tomato soup. I will share the recipe with you tomorrow. Some of you attended the shower and asked for the recipe!! If you weren't at the shower and like Tomato soup, you need to make this soup because it's out of this world.

I have to admit I forgot to take pictures of the shower. So, today before I took everything down I took some pictures. It's hard throwing a party and dealing with everything and have to stop to take pictures.

I had the resident artist draw some pictures on our chalk boards.

I bought some flowers to put around the house and use as centerpieces.

I made some tissue paper flowers to put around the house too.

I bought a package of these white containers at the Dollar Store.

I found a web-site that had these little pictures of Golden Book pictures. I printed them out and glued them onto the white containers. I put some flowers inside and used these as centerpieces.

I cut these pictures out of an old book and made this pennant.

Found these cute blocks at the Dollar Store.

My window decorations. I will use for Valentine's Day too.

More flowers!!!

I purchased these cute little bear lollipops to give to the little kids in attendance.

I photo copied the covers of the books and made some more pennants to put around the house.

The mantel was decorated with a Welcome Girl sign and more pink flowers.

These flowers remind me of the peonies from my garden.

Ballerina is eagerly awaiting for me to hang these in her room.

More flowers.

Jo got a lot of great presents. It's a good thing that there were two trucks here to take her home.

Now that the baby shower is done its time to decorate for Valentine's Day.

Bright

Last week Martha Stewart had beauty week.

She had many awesome tips to share.

One of the many things I took away (from Bobbi Brown herself) was that bright colors are the thing for right now and Spring.

So, I looked around in my make-up bag and found some nice bright colors to place on my lips.

So what do you think?

Ballerina and Speed Racer stared at me for 3 minutes. Then they started laughing. I started to talk myself out of wearing the bright pink lips out into the real world. Then I decided, what the hell.

I laughed with them and headed out in  the world with my bright lips.

I felt very bright but I didn't care. I noticed that older ladies were looking at me. I know what they were thinking...

  bright colors are back in style time to go to Wal-Mart.

The kids are now asking me all the time to put on my bright lipstick.

I will be wearing this bright lipstick and a nice red lipstick too.

Go ahead walk on the wild side and get a bright color to put on your lips.

Snow Day

Since the beginning of December the kids have been asking for snow. You know when you are five all you want is to play in the snow and go sled riding.

We were so excited to hear that snow was coming our way.

When the kids were in school on Friday I ran my errands and came home to set up a snow day table.

I set up the table with a hot cocoa bar. I figured if we were going to be playing in the snow we would be needing hot cocoa. I also bought some raisin bread for breakfast and some sweet treats to munch on.

I read the kids a book about making minestrone soup.

When we finished reading the book we all headed into the kitchen to make minestrone soup.

Speed Racer opened the cans for me.

Ballerina peeled the carrots for me.

We stayed in our PJ's all day. When it was time to go outside to play we threw on our snow pants and jackets.

Tommy made a sled riding course for the kids in the back yard. We all took turns!!

It was a blast!!!

I love the snow when we are all safe at home!! So if Mother Nature wants to give us snow that is fine as long as it's on the weekends that I don't have anything planned.

How was your snow day?

40 List Update

I thought I would share with you the progress of my 40 list.

Three items have been crossed off (Brooklyn Bridge, Kids Camping, and Picking Blueberries in Maine)

I am currently working on 5 items:

1. Learning to knit. My cousin is teaching me, but we are both busy raising kids so it's a slow process.

2. Cook all the items from a cookbook. I have chosen to cook from "Pioneer Woman Cookbook" I have made 28 out of the 64 recipes in the cookbook.

3. Paint a Landscape picture- I have been working on a picture since the fall and I am not really feeling it, so I think I need to pick another picture.

4. I am reading about Judaism but lets face it, its very slow reading.

5. Run a 5k. I have been training for three weeks now. My first 5k run will be on May 6th. Race for the Cure.

I am currently running 1.5 miles in 24 minutes. I can run for 17 minutes straight. This is huge for me. I am not a runner. I have NEVER been a runner. In high school my gym teacher would yell at me for not running.

Both of my brother's were runners, so I know I must have the running gene somewhere inside.

I have to say that I am impressed with myself for running. I really am enjoying my runs. Every time I run I add another minute. Once I can run for 20 minutes straight I will add another minute.

My training right now is on the treadmill. With the weather and snow on the ground I have taken myself off the streets. LOL!!!

I am making some other plans for my list.

I have decided President's Day weekend would be a good time for me to go down to AC for three/four of my items.

Easter Weekend will be the weekend we head to the Hamptons.

I'm currently looking into a yoga class for me and Ballerina.

I am heading down to South Jersey this weekend and now I am thinking of making a detour through Philly to be like Rocky and run up the Museum stairs.

Are you working on a list?

Pottery Barn

Oh, how I LOVE POTTERY BARN!!!

The only problem is that Tommy loves Pottery Barn, Speed Racer and Ballerina love Pottery Barn too.

It's the highlight of our day when the Pottery Barn catalog comes in the mail.

When I see the Pottery Barn Kids catalog, I know that I am in trouble. It means that I have to listen to a certain little girl say I like that and I want that!!!

Some of their items are easy to make or find at a much cheaper price.

Last week Pottery Barn Kids came in the mail. There are soooo many things to admire in that catalog.

Ballerina pulled up her stool and started looking through the catalog. I kind of held my breath.

All of a sudden I hear "Ohhhh, Mommy I love that princess bed."

What 5 year old wouldn't love this room/bed. What she was talking about was the pink flower canopy.

I know that when I was a little girl I wanted a canopy bed, ok, I'm not going to lie...I still want a canopy bed. However, my sleeping buddy does not want a canopy bed!!! Boo for boys!! LOL

So, her re-action to that canopy bed got me!! I know how I wanted/want a canopy bed.

Price tag for the canopy bed $139. Gulp!!!!!!

I almost choked!!

My head started turning, I could try to make that out of tulle and a hula hoop. Hmmm

 All of a sudden an alarm went off in my head.

I remembered I just saw a pink canopy with beading at an antique store for like $18.00.

So, after I dropped the kids off at school, I headed 1/4 of a mile to my favorite antique place.

I headed to the booth, praying that the pink canopy was still hanging from the ceiling.

There it was hanging from the ceiling. I didn't want to seem too eager. I didn't want someone else to see that I wanted the canopy and reach up and grab it. I tried getting it down myself, but I needed to grow another three inches in order to get it off the hook. I suddenly noticed a mom and her eight year old daughter circling the area. I thought quick and grabbed the tallest person I could find.

The 80 year old lady was so happy to help me!!! I told her it must be nice to be tall and she laughed down at me!!

I had the canopy in my hand. I quickly ran to the register before someone saw the same Pottery Barn catalog I just saw and decided to add another $50 to the price tag. I must have looked like a football player heading to the end zone. LOL!!!

As, I was making my way to the register another vendor approached me saying she had a canopy too. She thought about bringing it in to sell, but she thought no one would buy it.

I told her how Pottery Barn is selling them for $139. She looked at me with price tags in her eyes.

She said "I'll be bringing my canopy in tomorrow." I think I want to go back and see how much she is selling it for.

I ended up getting this canopy for $17.00 because it was 10% off!!

On Saturday morning, when the kids were occupied Tommy went up to Ballerina's room to hang up the pink canopy. It was a surprise for her.

I know it doesn't have the pink flowers and ruffles that the one from Pottery Barn has, but Ballerina is soooo happy with her princess bed. She tells me all the time how much she loves it and thanks me!!

I can always add the pink flowers and ruffles if she starts comparing the two!!

 Mommy is so jealous!!!

At least one of us got her princess bed!! LOL!!

Now, if I can just get a certain coffee table out of my head from Pottery Barn or find it for $20.00.

Re-Arranging

You know my saying

"When the cat is away the mice will play."

Tommy was in Atlanta this week for a meeting.

My parent's came up to keep us company and help me with the kids.

On, Tuesday night I told them I was thinking about making a big change in the family room. I have been thinking about doing this for some time, but I wasn't too sure. My parent's listened to my idea and encouraged to make the change. That's what parents are for right? To encourage their children!!

Anyway, we sat around Wednesday discussing it some more because it would take a bit of work.

I figured I would sleep on it and decide in the morning. I thought about it and decided to go ahead and re-arrange a few things.

Here is my Dad (playing Vannah White). Since, buying this TV a few years ago for Christmas we never had a entertainment center for the TV. I was bothered by that and the fact that you can see ALL the wires. Wires for the TV, computer, Wii, DVD player, DVR, and the computer router. Too many wires.

I had a simple solution without spending any money!!!

I bought down the fireplace from room and placed it here!!!

What do you think?

I really like the change.

The fireplace was slighty covering my heater vent in my room making my room very cold.

So, by moving the fireplace downstairs I resolved two problems.

The fireplace also has some logs that needs a new light. I also need to get some black felt to cover the wires in the back. I can't stand seeing wires!!

My Dad built a little shelf inside the fireplace for all the cable and computer boxes. We also hung the TV on the wall which is something Tommy has wanted to do.

I  just got this new chair!! Nana gave it to me. It was suppose to be my chair over 12 years ago but she really wanted it so I let her have it! LOL!!! Nana got a new reclining chair that helps her get out of her chair.

The more I look at the new arrangement the more I am happy with my decision.

I just need to get new tiles for around the fireplace. The kids also think that Hanukkah Harry has a new way of coming into our house.

I can't wait to hear what the Cat will say!! TEEHEEE

I am linking up with My Romantic Home.

Organizing

I am still organizing.

I decided this year to do one organizational project a day.

The other day I decided to tackle the always messy area...under the kitchen sink.

I don't know why this area is always a mess, but hopefully I have managed to fix the messy problem for good.

Here is the BEFORE:

YIKES!!!

While cleaning under the sink I found four soap bottles only 1/4 way filled. (I guess I am the glass is half full kind of girl).

So, I poured all the soap in a glass jar and now I have soap when I run out in a few days!!!

I hit the dollar store for a few items and Target for another item.

Get ready for the AFTER photo.

Look how nice!!!

Impressive don't you think?

I spent $2.12 at the Dollar Store- I bought the white and blue bucket.

In the white bucket I have some cleaning products and in the blue bucket I have those annoying grocery bags. I need those bags some times!!

At Target I spent $3.79 for the tension rod that my spray bottles are hanging from!!

Grand Total $5.91 for this impressive organizational project!!

Look how nice!!!

I love to be organized!!!

Are you organizing anything special?

First Run

Today was my first run of the New Year.

I plan on running a 5k and a half marathon.

I am so excited because I've had some people want to run with me!!!

Yippy!!!!!

My Aunt Lady Di (Tommy's maternal aunt) will be running the 5k with me in April for the Susan G Komen.

(I love making up knick names for people to protect their identity.)

My brother Gav will be running the half marathon with me in the fall!! (Even though it was New Years Eve and we were happily buzzed and having a great time, I am holding him to it.)

 I dropped the kids off at school and headed to Wal-Mart.

I wanted to get a phone arm band to wear while I am running.

Once I made my purchase I headed over to ESU for my run.

It was very cold!!! My face was freezing but after awhile my face either got use to the coldness or just became numb!!

By the end of the run I was sweating!!

Looking at the field and blue sky I kind of thought it was Spring.

I had on my new kicks Asics!! Nice and comfy.

I put on Pandora 80's Cardio Radio and started running/walking.

I recently downloaded AllSport GPS on my phone.

It tracks everything.

Today the AllSport told me I ran/walked for 17:36 with max speed 5.1 mph.

I have another app that I will try on Friday.

After the run I treated myself to water, clementines, and a hand full of nuts.

I had a lot of energy and felt pretty good!!!

Tomorrow, I will do some light weight training.

That's the update for my first run!!

Have a great night!!

Organization

One of the things I LOVE about the New Year is all the talk about organizing.

I LOVE to organize!!!!

I planning on re-organizing everything in the house. Paying special attention to certain areas.

I headed on over to Pinterst to look for some inspiration and some helpful tips.

Here are some of the things that caught my eye!!

I could totally do this in my office.

I love the organized pantry!! I think I need to head over to IKEA for some of these containers.

I am going to make one of these for Ballerina. She loves to draw and craft and this would be great for her.

I need to organize all of our paper work like this.

Love this little area. Might be something I need to do before this fall.

Cute print-outs to keep organized

Another well organized pantry.

My first project will to be organizing the pantry.

It's Can Can month at Shop Rite and I always stock up on canned goods and other cheap items.

Another organized pantry.

I really like this door for the pantry.

I think that I am truly inspired to work on the pantry.

I think that will be my goal for this week.

Wish me luck.