Updates, and Project Hallway Library

Epic fail!! So maybe the twice-a-week theme thing isn't going to happen right now. But I do have some updates!!

Biggest Move-It happened last weekend. We have done a major overhaul of the kids' libraries. They each have a bookshelf in their rooms that are full (Grammie works at a bookstore... We reap the rewards!) but half the books are communal, and the other half are borrowed between the two of them - they are always in each other's rooms borrowing books to read. I love it, but the shelves are getting old and worn, and we're running out of space! On top of that, Tobes is starting to potty-train and when he does, his change table will move back into Princess' room (it was bought for her, and it's one of those convertible ones that will turn into a well-needed dresser!) so we need to make room for that.

So we started Project Hallway Library!

First we took the bookshelf from Princess' room, and moved it to the living room.

From here...

To here!

This is the "before" of this corner of the livingroom...

Minus the Christmas presents, of course ;) But seriously, we took down our tree last weekend too :P

I know the shelf looks bare, but trust me - it will get filled soon! I've only gone through the books on her shelf so far (I haven't touched Tobes' shelves yet!) but this is what I've gone though before. This is approximately 1/2 of the kids books we have... upstairs...

We went through and figured out what they've both outgrown, what's sentimental, what they're currently reading, and what can be "shared" with others (donated, hand-me-down, etc), which ended up being about 30 books! It made a dent.

The result so far...

This is in our upstairs landing. Tobes' room to the left, the kids bathroom to the right.

Ikea to the rescue!! An affordable, larger bookshelf sitting right outside Tobes' room. For perspective, I was taking this pretty much from Princess' doorway. It's just step away from either of their doors. It is currently filled with the books from just Princess' shelves so far. I still have to go through Tobes'. He'll keep his bookshelf for storage, but it'll mostly have keepsakes, and toys on it.

So that's what I've been up to!

I WILL say that I have a REALLY Special Dinner Sunday coming up tomorrow (hopefully will be blogged shortly thereafter) - we are celebrating our anniversary with a night-in, and cooking a 4-course menu together :) I'm so excited!!

Try-it Thursday

So I've posted my last 2 Move-it Mondays twice, and they aren't showing up... Might have to try copying and pasting them and see how it goes... But I'm doing it, and I guess that's really what matters most, isn't it? So far the school-center has been organized (and I've found a few permissions slips left unsigned... Oops!) and I also re-organized my work files (I own my own business and while I'm awesome at keeping files, the rest of my stuff unfortunately ends up EVERYWHERE!!!) Today was Try-it Thursday, and I kind of wimped out with a craft I have been meaning to do for a long time with the kids. I found Pinsperation, but I've seen it done so many times in so many places that there wasn't one specific pin I could share with you.

Tonight we made coffee-filter butterflies... At least the first part (busy day meant we left them to dry overnight and will finish them tomorrow!)

The process was painfully simple. We took old coffee filters, food color, small containers with water (about 1/4 cup to 7-8 drops of food color gave us really pretty pastels), and LOTS of paper towel.

We folded some of the filters, others we crumpled. We then began to dip them into the different colors. Some just did a quick dip in and out, others we let sit in the water for longer and watched the water slowly soak up the paper. Then we unfolded, and saw what designs we made!!

Tomorrow we break out the pipecleaners ;)

A Fresh Start - The Plan

So, it's great to have these updates, and nice to have the resolve to work on this all again, but goals are nothing without plans!

My goal is to maintain my daily chores, as well as set up weekly projects to do in regards to organization. I also am doing a LOT better at meal-planning and supper prep, but my cooking rarely expands beyond that. I want to bake more with my kids, and I have a TON of "fun" snacks pinned for them as well!

I've seen "Wordless Wednesdays" and "Two-for Tuesdays" on other blogs, so why not have some "theme" days here? For both my blog and my house. We already have "Special Supper Sunday", and a few others I've come up with are "Move-it Monday" where I do some sort of BIG reorganization or clean (I'm sure I have enough to fill several months of those!) and "Try-it Thursday", where I try something new I found off Pinterest - either a cleaning/organizing tip or recipe. ("Try-it Tuesday" has a better ring to it, but realistically it's just not going to happen. We have gymnastics in the morning, then school, then dance in the evenings. It's is hands-down the day that the least will get done this year!)

This weekend is the last of our Christmas celebrations, with Hubbyman's brothers, so Special Supper Sunday will be replaced with many, MANY Ukrainian dishes on Saturday instead.

For my first Move-it Monday, I've already got my sights set upon our paper storage in our kitchen!!! It's our craft center/school work storage/school paper storage, but in the rush and business of the Christmas season, EVERYTHING has been shoved into EVERY drawer! Princess starts back to school on Monday, it's only fair that we have better storage for when she goes back.

A Fresh Start - The Updates

Wow! It's been almost an entire year since I last posted in here. I'm getting a lot better at things, and having more space definitely helps! My friends and family have noticed as well, which has been nice!

But there's always room for improvement, and this is an area of my life I've been working at for 5+ years, and I started this blog with such high hopes for it!! So New Year, Old Resolution - I'm reviving my blog!!

Might as well start with a New Years update: The Biggest Helps and Hinders of 2012!

Helps:

• Schedules. As much as I hate to admit it, schedules help in this regard. With my eldest daughter in school now, we have set times that we NEED to be places. This helps keep distractions (mostly playdates) in line, as well as has been helping with naptimes for my youngest, which means more cleaning time for me too! 
• Space. SUCH a huge help! Everything (mostly) has a place, and when push comes to shove, we have space to "hide" things (the laundry room is perfect to stash that last pile of paperwork we didn't have time to sort through before company arrives)
• Hosting. We have a much better house for entertaining now - better layout, location, and much more room. We used to NEVER have people over to our old house - too much stuff in too little space. But in the year and a half we've been in this home, we've hosted birthday parties, Christmases, New Years Eve, dinners, and countless playdates. And each time it's getting easier and easier to tidy before people come over.
• The Kids. A help and hinder, both are of the age where they not only CAN help, but WANT to help. And it goes beyond picking up their toys and cleaning their rooms (Tobes LOVES to make his bed, and at 2 and a half, he does a pretty awesome job!) but they also love to help with the laundry, and wash the kitchen table and chairs!

Hinders:

• The Kids. Told you ;) While I would never otherwise refer to them as a hinder, they really do get in the way of cleaning. And not just because they make messes (because in the grand scheme of things, they don't make that many!) but because they have schedules and activities of their own that take time away. Starting next week, the kids have gymnastics on Tuesdays, music lessons on Thursdays, and Princess has dance on Tuesday nights and Wee Collage (Church school) on Wednesdays. This isn't including school, or playdates. And this is just their stuff...
• Distractions. Kids. Pinterest. Facebook. Phone dates. Play dates. It's SO easy for me to push cleaning aside for... anything else! I am going to do my very best to balance blogging and cleaning, and again - I hope this blog helps to hold me accountable more than anything else!

Special Supper Sunday

I love that as my family is growing, we're getting our own traditions. I love to think about when Princess and Tobes start school and get older, and what things we'll do as a family. Special Supper Sunday is one I hope we always keep. Usually it's an occasion for Hubbyman to flex his creative muscles, and his amazing talents in the kitchen by trying new or more involved recipes, but lately (like tonight) it's just been a chance for us to cook together as a family, especially since Princess likes to participate.

We rarely miss an opportunity for family dinner, unless I'm working or Hubbyman is away. Or unless it's Tuesday, when Princess dances. But I want to make sure that even as our lives get busier, we make sure to sit down at LEAST once a week to have dinner together, and Special Supper Sunday gives us that chance.

So keeping with the theme of this blog (and I promise I'll come back and post about my 21 days of cleaning tomorrow. I promise), I present this week's Special Supper Sunday (I want to come up with something more clever eventually... I hope!)

This week was inspired by a recipe I found in a magazine yesterday at the spa. It was a simple chicken dish, but it's something we've never tried. I glanced through at the instructions (I would have ripped that page right then and there but I was wearing a robe with no pockets, and the girl doing my manicure was right there) and tucked it away in my memory. We also attempted a potato cake thing we saw on the food network, but it didn't quite go as planned (still good though!)

First step we took a boneless skinless chicken breast and pounded it flat(ter). I say "we" because everyone got into it (minus Tobes).

While Hubbyman and Princess flattened the meat, I got to work on the stuffing. The one from the magazine that caught my eye was breadcrumb-based, but I decided to make up my own. I used salsa, some seasonings, breadcrumbs, and mozzarella.

I spread the mix onto the chicken, and then rolled them up and placed them in a baking dish. We hummed and hahh-ed as to whether or not we should top them with more cheese, but decided to forgo it.

 

They were place in the oven at 400F for about 20 minutes(ish). I know it sounds like a really short time, but they were pretty thin pieces. Meanwhile, we got the side dishes ready, including the failed-but-yummy potatoes, and asparagus (my favorite way is to blanch it, then place it single-layer in a casserole dish with lemon juice and parmesan cheese, then put it under the broiler until the cheese browns. See pictures below)

Blanching

And ice bath (this will come in handy in a minute...)

We like a LOT of cheese... Usually I brown it a little longer, but the littles perfer it like this)

That bowl of ice water comes in handy for later when you burn your middle finger on one of the baking dishes. So just keep that in mind ;)

The littles set the table, and we sat down for dinner :) It was a fantastic evening! We sat down and talked about our weekend (I had a mommy-day yesterday, so they told me more about their day) and we talked about the plans for the week.

I could have rolled it more, instead it basically was a stuffed chicken breast, which was delicious.

On the bed of potatoes, with the asparagus. We have freakishly large plates.

Princess wanted us to take a picture of them eating, but she didn't want to look at the camera. Tobes, on the other hand...

Things I learned:

1. Next time I'm going to try the breadcrumb filling I saw - it was breadcrumbs, butter, rosemary and thyme. It's a completely different flavor palate
2. This is an easyish dish for a weeknight, I can always butterfly the chicken too
3. We need to figure out something different for the potatoes. We know a ton of potato dishes, but the cake seemed like a good idea!
4. This would also be great with quiona.
5. It's embarassing how little I know about our new stove. Seriously. It's touchscreen with a ton of different settings (including convection) and complicated! *lol* Apparently I need to spend more time with it...

It's Not an EPIC Fail...

So Hubs is gone, and my whole world has been topsy-turvy. So my junk drawer is still junky, the linen closet has been left untouched (except to add more to it. I did get laundry done.) and the front closet still scares me. ;) I will start my 21-day project in a few days, but for now we're in survival-mode *lol*

(though I will say that not only have I done laundry, but dishes as well, and I even got the floor swept!)

21 - Day Challenge

Thanks to a friend who shared this link with me on my other blog, I have decided to start a 21-Day Challenge! I'm going to change it a little bit (we don't have a computer desk, and our tupperware storage was just organized), but I think it's the PERFECT project to start my blog off with! And during those 21 days, I will start coming up with new plans and new challenges for after :)

Here is the original list:

• Join the Challenge (at any time)
• Day 1 - Junk Drawer
• Day 2 - Computer Desk
• Day 3 - Tupperware Cabinet
• Day 4 - Linen Closet
• Day 5 - Under kitchen sink
• Day 6 - Dresser Drawers
• Day 7 - The Pantry
• Day 8 - Coat Closet
• Day 9 - Toy organization
• Day 10 - Laundry Room
• Day 11 - The Freezer
• Day 12 - Spice Cabinet
• Day 13 - Medicine Cabinet
• Day 14 - Under bathroom sink
• Day 15 - Medicine/Vitamin Storage
• Day 16 - The Fridge
• Day 17 - The Mail
• Day 18 - Keepsakes
• Day 19 - Master Closet
• Day 20 - Photos
• Day 21 - You pick!

And my list:

• Day 1 - Junk Drawer
• Day 2 - Linen Closet
• Day 3 - Front Closet
• Day 4 - Back Closet (by garage)
• Day 5 - Under kitchen sink
• Day 6 - Dresser Drawers
• Day 7 - Home Binders
• Day 8 - Erie's Work Stuff
• Day 9 - Toy organization
• Day 10 - Laundry Room
• Day 11 - The Freezers
• Day 12 - Master Bathroom Vanity
• Day 13 - Master Bathroom Medicine Cabinet
• Day 14 - Kids Bathroom
• Day 15 - Sideboard
• Day 16 - The Fridges
• Day 17 - The Mail
• Day 18 - Keepsakes
• Day 19 - Master Closet
• Day 20 - Photos
• Day 21 - You pick! (Still Deciding on This One!)

 Kids are a little crazy today (no one slept well last night, but for no good reason), so I might wait and start the challenge tomorrow, but we'll see. At the very least, I have my list!