Follow up to Cans for Comments

The deadline for commenting on my blog post has passed.  Thank you everyone who participated.  What an easy way to give by only taking a moment of your time.  I generated my first 3 followers (YAY!) and got 7 comments.  That makes for 13 total can goods to be donated, but that was still lower than the 15 minimum I had promised.  Instead of just adding the last 2 cans and calling it a day, I have decided to go ahead and donate the 13 generated from the blog and the additional 15, for a total of 28 cans!

Max and I went to a few stores and got cans, mostly because we were there anyway and secondly he was having meltdowns so we had to leave each store early and couldn't finish gathering our cans. Here is a pic of our haul

As mentioned in previous posts, I have a preference to which food pantry and second hand store I like to donate our stuff too.  This isn't for any reason other than my mom goes thrift shopping at this particular store weekly and we both see first hand the line at the food bank and the need for donated items there.  It is of course the Agape House in Pacific Mo. 

I wanted to get the cans out there before Christmas but we didn't make it, and then I thought about the old saying, "Hunger knows no season" so I figure any time is as good as any, so we will be headed out there sometime this week.  My plan is to get a picture of Maxsen donating the items and make sure we talk to him about this sort of thing and make it a frequent thing.  I would love to get him started early doing whatever he can to help others.

Little Fishes Swim School

Last Wednesday I had the pleasure of being invited to my first mommy blogger event, a swim meet up at Little Fishes Swim School in Brentwood.  Maxsen had taken classes there this summer but we decided to take a hiatus for the winter and it was great to be back.  We have a swimming pool at our house as well as a condo at the Lake of the Ozarks, so Maxsen's water safety is a top priority for us. 

Just some quick swimming facts that I found on the Internet:

From the CDC's website: Every day, about ten people die from unintentional drowning. Of these, two are children aged 14 or younger. Drowning is the sixth leading cause of unintentional injury death for people of all ages, and the second leading cause of death for children ages 1 to 14 years.
Click the link for more information on water risks.

Here's a link to some children pool safety tips to follow.  Pool Safety Tips

I feel like one of the best things I can do is teach not only Max but myself how to keep both of us safe in the water, and swimming lessons are the first step.  Plus, it's fun!  Who doesn't like to have fun?!

sliding down the ramp

swimming to the fish before pancakes

We started the event by chatting with the other Bloggers and playing with all the cool toys they have in the waiting room.  Then it was time to swim!  I could tell Maxsen remembered the process of getting ready in the changing room but once we got to the pool it was a different story.  He was a little scared of getting in without me, but once I was in with him he warmed up to the situation again.   We did our island work, pancakes, and even went underwater (which I stated earlier that day I wasn't going to let him do but we got caught up in the moment and I knew he would be fine with it) .   He took to it like, well, fish to water!  HA HA I AM A COMEDIAN! 

Once class was over and we got dried off, we had snacks and chatted some more (we are women you know) and then painted some fishies.  Played, swam, painted fishies, had snacks, a one year olds little slice of heaven.  Click here for Little Fishes Blog.

After the event was over I realized how much we missed the class.  Swimming is so important to us given our situation and seeing how much Maxsen really loves it, I cannot wait to go back.  Swim lessons are not only a fun activity, but a life lesson as well.   Spring, hurry up!

Mom's Day Out

Maxsen has been going to a Mom's Day Out program at a local church for a few months now and he loves it. Around here we just call it school. I pack a lunch for him and I have to drag him out of bed to go there so I see this as a premonition of things to come when real school starts. His teachers names are Mrs. Marsha and Mrs. Andrea and when ever I say, "Max do you want to go to school today? " He yells, "MARSHA!!" with the utmost enthusiasm.  I Love it.  I even taught him to say Marsha, Marsha, Marsha, and then I felt like a total hypocrite being as that I am positive she probably hates that as much as I hate being sung to.  But just about anything is cute when a 1 year old says it (that's my story and I'm sticking to it).

Anyway, I always loved when my mom did things at school or made special things for the class or for my teachers and Mrs. MARSHA! and Mrs. Andrea are Max's very first "teachers" so we spent a couple days making something special for them. I of course saw the idea on the idea mecca of the world, Pinterest.

Max made thumbprint reindeer

Big box of Goldfish for the class

And judging from the stories Max's dad has told me about his school days, it won't hurt to start sucking up now.  Maybe I can get it perfected before Max really needs it ;)

So I'm sure you can see that this is a fairly new blog and I am doing my best to update it at least 2 times a month until I really get the hang of it.  I currently have zero, zilch, zip in the way of followers or subscribers and to a blogger (new or seasoned) that's like a proverbial kick in the b@lls.  (If I had b@lls, which I don't of course because I am a woman.  Hence the posts about fabric and rug making, but I digress.)

 I came across Cans for Comments idea on a blog that I read called great expectations and I thought not only is this an awesome way to help this time of year, it might help me get my blog out there.  

Here's how it works, for every comment I get from today until Dec 20th I will dontate one can of food, for every new follower I will dontate two cans of food.  I will make a minimum donation of 15 cans of food anyway in good faith, but I would love to see how much you all can help me out!

Kitchen update progress

I am still in the thrones of updating my kitchen.  Ever since we moved in (like 7 years ago) we have not liked the cabinets and so our first project was to make them current. We previously had the regular old builder grade oak cabinets (hello 90's!) and we finally had them painted. We could have done it ourselves and gone the divorce route but we paid a real professional to do it.  I can't find an old pic of the hideous oak, but here's the freshly painted ones:    

I've also been busy making some pinboards that I saw on Pinterest.  I absolutely love them and they were super easy to make.  I have already hung them even though I still need to paint, but it was suggested to me that I go ahead and put them where I want them and paint over the holes so I don't have to mark up my newly painted walls.  Plus then if I make a mistake I can just patch before I paint. Sounded like a good idea to me so that's what I did.  I failed to take a pic of them before I hung all kinds of stuff on them but here's some pics of the process.  I got the fabric at Hancock Fabrics.

Next up for the kitchen remodel is the paint color.  I want to paint it yellow.  We get tons of summer sun and I can't wait to see the yellow in the summer against the sun.  Instant happiness!  Here were some samples we were thinking about and ultimately I chose the one in the middle called Moonlit Yellow.  Just need to buy it and get it done.  Being realistic, it will not happen before Christmas though.  Here are the paint samples:

Next couple projects include a T- shirt shag rug that I saw on Pinterest and  DIY granite countertops  they have at all the big box stores.  I already got my husband to agree that we are doing that project this winter so hopefully we actually do.

Baby, it's getting cold outside

Took a small hiatus from blogging in order to enjoy the last months of summer but I'm going to make an effort to keep up with it. I'm committed!  In a previous post I made a Bucket List of things I wanted to do before Fall hit, let's see what I accomplished shall we:

1. Garage sale- I got this done and made some bucks.  I had the sale in October so the weather wasn't always the best but I had it on multiple days and it was totally worth it.  I made over $500 and got rid of so many things that I thought were trash!  What didn't sell went to the The Agape Help House in Pacific Mo.  This was a triple whammy, I cleaned out the basement, the shed and the garage in the process so this was a huge deal for me to get done.

Maxsens Contribution to the sale, a fit at the end of the driveway

2. Kitchen walls painted, pin boards hung and blue strip of tile back splash painted- I got 5 of the 6 pin boards hung, the last one I decided I didn't like the color and didn't finish installing it.  I have, however, changed my mind and like the color again and it's back on my to do list.  Lets not talk about the other stuff.

3. Photo albums organized (yes, I still print my photos, I absolutely love looking at old photos of my family and if I ever have a girl, she may want to do this. I hear boys have no interest in photos)- This had not even crossed my mind until I just printed 300 more pictures so I would have an empty camera card for my sons baptism.  I will get to it eventually.

4. House power washed (I happen to like power washing stuff)-DONE!  However, I paid someone to do it.  After trying to power wash my deck many times this summer I decided it was worth the $250 to have someone else do it, and I was right.

5. Pillows made for the condo-So not done but I JUST found perfect pillows on Etsy that I will be buying soon.  I have been searching for pillows since July so I am super excited about this one!

6. Accessorize the condo with pics (it is a massive sea of brown right now, it needs some blue and yellow badly!)-Been waiting to see what I came up with for pillows before I decorate at all.  Working on this I promise

7. Make some of the yummy desserts I have found on Pinterest-I don't know that I made any desserts but I did make some Buffalo Chicken bites that I found there.  They were a total PITA to make and just OK tasting.  Hopefully the deserts will be better.

8. Make a cake from scratch-Nope

9. Come to terms with my current obsession with all things yellow-Don't know what the issue is with this, I still love yellow and can't wait to see the yellow walls in the finished kitchen!

The yellow in the middle is the one I love

Meal Planning

I keep reading about how meal planning is key for many mommies and many mommies budgets so I feel it is something I should give the ole college try.  I'm not only doing this for the budget purpose but for the health aspect of it, we need to eat more whole foods around here and less pre made and processed foods.  We also need to eat more meals at home and not at restaurants which would work towards boths goals!  (GO US!) 

I'm not going to start off reading recipes and go to the grocery store and getting everything first though, I'm going to try something a little different.

My issue here is not only lack of ideas, it's that I buy a ton of stuff with the full intention of making some great masterpiece,  but then life with a toddler comes in and I'm either to tired or lazy to make it or I stare in the pantry like the little girl from Poltergeist waiting for something to jump out at me.  (It doesn't happen).  So right now I have a pretty well stocked pantry, just a pretty lazy attitude.  We have been spending money like crazy here sue to the new lake condo purchase (more on that later) and quite frankly we need to chill, or the money well (I wish) is gonna go dry.

My first week of meal planning started Monday.  I did go to the grocery store Sunday and got some fruits and veggies (because that is something we never have around here) and I am ready to roll. The goal is to make it to Friday through lunch (because all bets are off on the weekend baby!)  without having to go shopping or out to eat just using what we already have here.  Monday we had tacos and finished off a bag of cheese that was bound to go bad, Tuesday we had this chicken feta dish that a friend of mine posted on facebook.  I was excited about this one and it turned out ok, but I think I should have used the full fat feta for more flavor.  Maybe next time.   As for tonight I am making Chicken Tortilla Soup (that I found here )in the crockpot and I have to round up something for Thursday and Friday.  Wish me luck!

Superfood Smoothie

Superfood according to wikipedia: Term sometimes used to describe food with high phytonutrient content that may confer health benefits as a result.

I follow a lot of blogs and I get the best ideas from them.  One of them was for a  green smoothie.  I am totally not into fruit at all, and I don't know why because every time I end up eating it I think it's great.  I think because it's quite the hassle to clean, cut and then it goes bad before I decide I want to do all that work to eat it.  Kind of like crab legs, which I don't really like either but I digress...

I made a commitment to myself to lose some weight as well as make healthier choices for my family.  For instance, I don't allow Max to have anything that has high fructose corn syrup in it, aspartame, artificial colors and I try to limit bleached flour.  Also no sports drinks, soda, lunch meat unless its the kind free of nitrates, and no white bread.  I am in no way a health nut (I would eat chocolate for every meal if it didn't make me fat) but I just feel like these are obvious health choices that are easy to make for my family.  The less processed food I expose him to the better, and the better his eating habits will be as he grows up.

Anyway back to the superfood smoothie.  I still cannot bring myself to sit down with a bowl of fruit for a snack nor to I have the energy to cut it up for breakfast every morning, so for a mid morning snack (for Max, breakfast for me) I try and make smoothies.  I usually just do strawberry banana but I had some other fruit in the pantry from my shopping trip Monday so I thought I would mix it up and try another combo.  This is the absolute best one yet and it will be a staple for a few weeks I'm sure. 

Here are the ingredients:

5 large strawberries (organic is best)
1/2  banana
1/4 cup blueberries
somewhere between a 1/4 and 1/2 cup of Activia vanilla yogurt
handful of spinach (organic is best)
some organic 2% milk, add to your desired smoothie consistency

Put in your food processor and viola, a superfood smoothie. Spinach is a superfood, as are blueberries and yogurt.  Yogurt has been a cure all for me for years, I had a few health issues and my doc suggested yogurt and it has been amazing the difference it's made!  I swear by yogurt.

Normally I would have snapped a pic but Max and I slurped that down so fast I forgot!  So here's an old pic of a strawberry/banana smoothie I made awhile back.

Oh, and don't be scared of the spinach I swear you can't taste it! 

Things I want to get done before it gets cold outisde

1. Garage sale
2. Kitchen walls painted, pin boards hung and blue strip of tile back splash painted
3. Photo albums organized (yes, I still print my photos, I absolutely love looking at old photos of my family and if I ever have a girl, she may want to do this.  I hear boys have no interest in photos)
4. House power washed (i happen to like power washing stuff).
5. Pillows made for the condo
6. Accessorize the condo with pics (it is a massive sea of brown right now, it needs some blue and yellow badly!)
7. Make some of the yummy desserts I have found on Pinterest
8. Make a cake from scratch
9. Come to terms with my current obsession with all things yellow.

New I.E.

So I downloaded the new Internet Explorer and my favorites bar disappeared and now I forget to update my blog.  I wish they hadn't moved it over to the side under a pull down menu.  With Pinterest hogging most of my computer time unless it right in my face reminding me, I will forget to do it.  So this is a post to update you on my I haven't been posting.  Very riveting stuff folks.

As a totally unrelated side note:  it's amazing how much Kate Gosselin has changed since her first special on TLC years ago

Photography class

So today I took a photography class and overall...I'm still super confused!  I would love to have learned how (in one day) to take these stunning photos I see on blogs and facebook everywhere but alas, that did not happen.  I did learn some things like how to take neat pictures of still things like flowers and landscapes, but when I got home I practiced on Max and it appears I have learned nada in the portrait category.  I really would like to get into this so I need more classes, and reading the owners manual on my camera might help too.  If Maxsen suddenly turns into a flower then we're good, but until then I shall practice, practice, practice.  Here are a few shots from today

Kitchen updated

Ever since we bought this house back in 2004, we have hated the kitchen.  The cabinets are oak (standard builder grade), the counter tops and floor are laminate, and the appliances were white.  We have done some things over the past few years to try and make it better and until now, we had succeeded.  But lo and behold the addition of Pinterest to my life, that has all changed.  Now I need to redo it again.  Well not really redo but make some more adult changes.  That site has more ideas than I know what to do with, it's overwhelming!

As mentioned we have already done some things which included installing wood floors and we painted the cabinets Navajo White.  We also added brushed nickel hardware to the cabinets and changed all the appliances to stainless steel.  The kitchen looks nice but we've never had any curtains and the art work (ha! if you can call it that) came from the $5 walmart rack. So what I'm doing is I'm actually going to make, yes that's right, make curtains and the new artwork.  I've already started and I am super excited.  My mom is coming over to help (she's like a sewing Queen) and make sure I don't screw it up too bad. 
I also plan on painting (which I totally hate and would have hired someone to do it but were trying to buckle down on the frivolous spending, boo) 
The counter tops will still need to be done but that another project for another day.  Oh and I forgot to mention that I need to find tile paint and paint that strip of blue on the backsplash a different color.

  

This is the window where I will install my home made curtains!

  

This is the art wall!  See ya chefs!
















 

Paint samples.  For now we like the one in the middle




















 

the one in the middle



July 4th

Every outside holiday is usually hosted at our house because we have a great outdoor area for entertaining as well as a swimming pool.  This year was no different, but held a little more "specialness" because Max is older and I thought he would really be able to have a good time with his cousins outside and just get to run around and be a crazy little boy for a while.  Mother nature, however, had other plans for our outside party this year. 
 Of course, if you were in St. Louis that Sunday you would know it was stormy and rainy (as a side note here: Mother Nature has had it out for my parties all year so far.  On Maxsen's first birthday she decided to make it snow, almost cancelling the party) so the party was moved inside.  Not the ideal situation, but we coped and Hubby BBQ'd in the rain.  My house has never reached the decibel level that was achieved on Sunday July 3rd and there were only 3 kids with ages in the single digits. WOW is all I can say.  Here are some pictures



Saw this on a blog and decided it was a must for my party.  Super easy to make!



Max and his cousin who is about a year older




Max and Grandma




uh-oh! Kissing cousins!




My mom is really into making cake pops!  They are delish.  These were carrot cake





When we went outside for fireworks, this is what the sky looked like





Let's start this again. I had a blog related to my career, which is currently on hold so I can enjoy the best job ever, a stay at home mom.  So I have decided to create a new blog that is about my current life. My son of course.  My son is my life and I wouldn't have it any other way. This is a statement that many thought would never pass my lips.




Maxsen 2 weeks

 

Maxsen 12 months

Maxsen today

Let me start by giving some info about myself. I am 31, soon (enough) to be 32, stay at home (SAHM) to a 16 month old boy named Maxsen. Some days it's the best, some days I don't know why h-e-double hockey sticks I'm not working. In my former life (pre baby that is, and yes, it's a whole other life for those you for that don't have kids yet) I was a server which is where I met my husband. I most currently was/am a Realtor (pronounced Real-tor, not Real-a-tor for those of you that don't know). I say "am" because I will continue to hold my license and will probably start working again soon to stash some cash away before we have baby #2 (much more on that later). I have a passion for real estate, and I would love to get into the house flipping business one day. I have been selling since 2007 and I have many family and friends to thank for getting me started and really being the core of my business, I love them for that! I love HGTV, and Food Network and I'm slowly perfecting my cooking skills because I didn't cook before Max was here. I was like "Cook, What?! No way! Outta your mind". Not anymore.

I have been with my husband for almost 12 years (omg!) and I love the fact that we beat the odds as a restaurant couple. I remember when we first started dating and someone said about our relationship "what a joke!". Ha ha. Guess what! Jokes on you buddy!

A little about my husband. He owns a successful landscape and lawn service company. He's been in business since the late 90's. He's not just some guy with a truck and a trailer, he has over 75 employees and 25 company trucks and has won awards for his work. He's a work-a-holic and he loves fishing. Sometimes I think he loves fishing more than he loves me :) I know more about Hank Parker and Kevin Van Dam than the average girl. I have my favorites on the Bassmaster circuit, not sure yet if I'm proud of that or embarrassed. All I know is that my husband works hard and it lets me stay home so I can experience all the wonderful moments of being a mommy. While sometimes it may not seem like I appreciate him and all that he does, I do. I love that man.

I've got a lot going on that I can't wait to share! From home improvement projects to self improvement projects (damn baby weight) to what is Max doing these days to...whatever. I hope you enjoy reading!