Another Laundry Day Victory!

I had yet another laundry day victory today. However, not the same kind of victory that I described in my previous post about laundry, but....well, just see for yourself...

BEFORE

It's hard to see in these pictures, but basically the laundry room is very dirty, is in desparate need of a paint job, and lots of other little touch ups.



There were shelves here when we moved in but we took them down when we got a big freezer that we kept in this room. I sold the freezer on Craig's List in February, so for months we've just been looking at these yucky "wounds" on the wall.



It's hard to see what's going on in this picture, but this wall was the best wall to look at to see how much this room needed a new paint job. There were speckles of who knows what all over this wall and weird patchy parts. Also, the main color of the paint on all of the walls and the ceiling was a weird off white color that just kind of looked like dirty white.

AFTER

Isn't it beautiful!?!?

Here's a picture of the laundry room in use. I did my laundry after all the changes had been made and it was wonderful. It was a pleasure to be in the room since it looked so much nicer and cleaner. It was also nice to be able to hang things up as I cleaned them. I had the shelf to fold things on and store the stacks so I didn't have to clutter up my house with clean clothes on laundry day, they could all just stay in the laundry room.




Here's a video of the finished product. It's hard to capture the beauty of it all with just still shots, so I thought I'd better take a video...

Perfect Birthday Cake

Ellertson Birthday Cake

1 super moist German Chocolate Cake mix

MIX:

1 (8 oz.) pkg. of cream cheese

1 egg slightly beaten

½ cup sugar

2/3 cup chocolate chips (folded in)

TOPPING:

1 small package of vanilla instant pudding

1½ cups of milk

8 oz extra creamy whipped cream (or cool whip)

Directions: Make cake according to directions for 9x13 inch pan,

but use a 10x15 inch pan. Put into baking dish then dab mix on top

and use knife to zig zag into batter. Bake it according to directions

(be sure not to over bake). Let cake cool completely then spread

topping over cake and serve. Note: for topping, let pudding set

before adding cool whip. Also, for mix, add 1^st three ingredients

and mix together, then fold in chocolate chips.

Someday... Red, White, and Blue

Someday, when I have my own house and plenty of rooms I am going to do an Americana theme in one of my rooms. I love the look of the red, white, and blue and I love America!

I already have it going in my hallway right now a little bit. Even though Brad has only been in the military for a little over a year, we already have quite a few things (certificates, important photographs, etc.) up on our walls because of it. So this room will also be the perfect place for those things.

What got me thinking about this was the other day I was getting the girls dressed and I saw Jane's shorts with a red and a blue star on them and it just went from there.

I decided it was time for a matching red, white, and blue day for the girls.

GOD BLESS AMERICA!!

And They Say You Can't Reason With a Two Year Old...

So, whoever said that you can't reason with a two year old was actually wrong. You just have to reason with them in their world and on their level.

For example, Jane adamantly wanted to hold her baby doll in her high chair while she ate her breakfast and at first I tried to reason with her in my world saying, "Jane, you can't hold your baby while you eat breakfast because she will get messy." Jane didn't like that reasoning very much, so I tried a different approach. "Jane, your baby already had breakfast and she is SO FULL! Plus she wants to spend some time in the Exersaucer, so why don't we let her do that while you eat breakfast." She immediately agreed and was actually very excited about the whole thing.


Another example of this new found concept for me is Jane likes to play tea party and feed her babies and stuffed animals. So, I give her some utensils and some empty bowls and cups and she goes to town. Sometimes she asks me for real food or drink to put in her cups and bowls and I first try to explain that this would be too messy so we can't do it. She is not on board with this answer or this concept. So I step into her world and say, "Jane, do you need more juice in that cup?" and she enthusiastically says, "Yeah!" I then proceed to pretend the remote control (or whatever is closest to me) is a pitcher of juice and I make the pouring sound effects and everything and Jane loves it. She just moves on with her playing as if she has a full cup of juice. It's pretty great.

Chili & Corn Bread

Chili

1 pound of ground beef
1 packet of chili seasonings
chopped onions
1 can of diced tomatoes (with juice)
1 can of black beans (drained and rinsed)
1 can of kidney beans (drained and rinsed)
1 can of red beans (drained and rinsed)
1 can of chili beans (with sauce)
1 can of corn (drained)

Directions: Brown ground beef with chili seasonings and chopped onions.
Stir in the rest of the ingredients. Put cheese, green onions, and sour cream on top of the chili.




Corn Bread

1 1/2 cups corn meal
1 cup flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup oil
3/4 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 cup milk
1 can cream style corn
2 eggs
1 cup chopped chilies

Directions: Mix all ingredients together except cheese. Stir in oil, corn, peppers, eggs, milk, and 1/2 of the cheese until blended. Pour into greased pan and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes.

Notes: For sweet cornbread mix 2 boxes of Jiffy cornbread mix and 1 box of yellow cake mix. Mix separately according to individual boxes then mix together. Bake according to cake box.

Beautiful Fruit Pizza

CRUST:

-1 yellow cake mix
-1 egg
-1/2 cup melted butter or margarine

Mix cake mix, egg and margarine together and spread on greased and
wax papered large pizza pan. Bake 15 minutes at 350 degrees. Cool.

TOPPING:

-4 ounces cream cheese, softened
-1 cup confectioner's sugar
-4 ounces Cool Whip topping
-fresh fruit (blueberries, kiwi, strawberries,
peaches, mandarin oranges, bananas, etc.)

Your Very Own Flower Girl

I just wanted to do a quick post about the wedding flowers I did for Erika's wedding. I had so much fun doing them, I forgot how much I enjoy working with flowers. I was nervous at first because it has been so long since I have done anything like this, but it all came back very quickly. Anyway, here it is...

The food table arrangements.


The six sitting table center pieces.


The cake.


One of the father's boutineers (sp?).


One of the mother's corsages.


One of the bridesmaids clutches, small versions of the bridal bouquet.


The bridal bouquet from the front.


The bridal bouquet from the top.

Let me just say that I love working with calla lilies, the really hold their own. Just in case anyone was wondering, Erika ordered her flowers through Costco.com and we got really beautiful flowers and it all worked out really well.