I Hate Being Right

LOL…it’s been a few days since I posted. I got the strep. I hate being right. I called my doc as soon as my throat started hurting and asked if he’d call me in an antibiotic without needing to come in and get a throat swab since someone in my house just had strep. He did, and it didn’t take long to knock it out. Unfortunately, mom’s don’t really get sick days, and I couldn’t afford to miss any classes because you never know when I’ll have to stay home with a kid again, so I had to time my laying around/sleeping bit around my other obligations. JoY.

News, news…let’s see. Since I last posted, we hired a friend to put recessed lighting in the kitchen, so the big brass monstrosity is bye-bye. We’re working on patching up the off center holes where those old lights were, and we have two more outlets to change out, and then: WHOO---it’ll be time for another “after” photo. I can’t WAIT to post that one! It is INCREDIBLE!

I need to finish my last homework piece for class tomorrow, but this one involved taking photos and I just was NOT feeling inspired this weekend. Hopefully I got them decent enough to get me a good grade. =/ *sigh* If only my creative self would get on the schedule when I need it. LOL. So anyway, I gotta go get those photos ready for turning in so away I go…just wanted to post SOMETHING since it’s been a little while….

And because I just love my dog, here’s a picture of him for fun…

This was right after I picked up a stick, so he is eagerly waiting for me to throw it. LOL.

Figures

Uhmmm…I think you had it right in your comment, Ryan…my last post SHOULD have been “Ugh, BLEACH, and Ew.” Lol. I obviously didn’t do my part on the bleach.

Little dude recovered…I thought we were safe. But no….today he didn’t sound quite right when he was reading and his throat sounded a little swollen. So I took him to the doc just to be on the safe side…

Strep.

Nice.

He has impeccable timing. The only days he gets sick are the on the THREE days a week when I have class. Four other days to get sick on, so that I can stay home and keep him from infecting anyone else, but those four days just don’t work for him. UGH.

And my throat doesn’t feel right tonight either…whatcha wanna bet he gave it to me and I’ll come down with it in a couple of days…on my next class day.

Pardon my little vent and whine…just needed to get that off my chest.

I think I might put myself to bed right after I tuck the kids in bed in about 20 minutes. I really might. =//

*sigh*

Ugh, Blech, and EW

This was NOT in my plans for today. I think it’s a conspiracy....between the dogs, the cat, and the boy-child, I've cleaned up 9+ puke/hairball/backside excretions that didn't make it to the appropriate receptacles, listened to the lovely sounds of upchucks at least seven times, and had to endure the smell for at least an hour total between the occurrences and the cleanups...and that's just in the last 8 hours.

Conspiracy is working...I feel very queasy.

No fever, no signs of sickness (other than incessant vomiting), and everything was just fine last night…until like 1:30am.

And then it was on like Donkey Kong. All at once.

And go figures that KC would be out of town and miss all this fun. I just hope he doesn’t bring back another plague like the last time he came home from a business trip. He and I and K-man were out for days with that one. The Munchkin keeps getting passed over in the sicknesses…I told her she was just too ornery to get sick. Lucky dog…I’m going to have to up my own ornery-ness. LOL.

And there’s your super lovely peek at what’s going on in my world today. Now I have to go see if I can get online and work on any of my schoolwork from home since I had to miss class today. =(

Also laundry. Lots and lots of laundry. =/

House Photos #1

HEY LOOK….I’m overcoming a little more perfectionist-isms every day!

We got these two rooms detailed enough for after photos today, so I thought I’d share some before and afters. I LOVE before and afters. =)

First up: The old family room turned master bedroom suite:

More pictures of the other side of the new master bedroom and bathroom:

Then there is the original living room:

To the new and improved:


And remember that hallway I posted earlier…there it is again. This is the view from a little farther back. =)

And of course, to be continued…we ran out of energy hanging things today, so the finishing décor isn’t done on those other rooms down there. =) But it will come…=)

And a very special thank you to Aunt C. She gets credited for at least 75% of our décor, thanks to her always giving us first dibs on her yard sale stuff! =) She has the best yard sale stuff ever! =)

Anyway, that’s it for tonight…laterz.

Junk Funk

I hereby declare a war on the junk funk in which this silly box of junk drawer mess from our last house has left me. I will destroy it. Destroy it all. And I have 2 hours to do it. I can do this. I can do this. I can…

So help me, if I didn’t know there were things in here I needed, I would chuck the whole box in the trash and forget about it.

But no….I must destroy it by….

ORGANIZING IT. :-/

 

 

UPDATE: 1 hour, 40 minutes later:

Junk Funk: DEFEATED!

Well, mostly. There is still one small container of “Tiny or unknown junk” that is bugging me…it’s the things I wasn’t sure if it would be safe to throw out or not….lol. But it’s in one container all nicely labeled. I can live with that.

Also, FYI, this is a nice “after” of the closet in the bedroom that is currently utilized as office/storage. Unfortunately, I don’t have a before picture of the closet, because it didn’t occur to me to take closet pictures when I walked through with my camera. I can tell you that the paint job in here made it look 110% better though. We just used leftover paint from each room to paint it’s closet instead of buying more paint. =)

I wonder if I could get all the school supply boxes unpacked and organized into this closet really quick, too….HUMMMMMMMM…..

Rewind…

Back to Christmas…before it turns into NEXT Christmas…

A few pictures:

Christmas Morning:

Christmas Afternoon:

And last, but certainly not least: Uncle R’s birthday:

KC’s mom decided Uncle R’s birthday this year should be celebrated in style disguise:

So she wrapped up all these little gag gifts for him. She almost couldn’t stop laughing long enough to explain the purpose of each “gift.” LOL. It was funny to watch! LOL

And he was an extremely good sport about it, too. LOL!

Spicy Chicken Chili

I haven’t made this yet, but KC really liked it from a church dinner, so I asked for the recipe and thought I’d put it here so I won’t lose it when I get ready to try it out. I’ll have to figure out a way to shrink it, or else I’ll have lots to freeze for future meals…lol!

Ingredients:
1 lb pack of Great Northern Beans (dried)
1 lb pack of Red Beans (dried)
1 lb pack of Navy Beans (dried)
8 Chicken Thighs
2 Chicken Breasts
5 medium potatoes
2 large red onions
1/2 package baby carrots (sliced)
4 celery stalks
1 bell pepper
Hot Pepper (optional depending on desired heat)
Hot Sauce (optional depending on desired heat)
6 cloves of garlic
1 Tbsp cumin
1 Tbsp black pepper
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

Put all beans in crockpot and cook until about 3/4 way done. Season with salt, pepper, & garlic.

Put chicken thighs & breasts in separate pot and season with salt, pepper, cumin, and 3 of the cloves of garlic.

When chicken is done, remove from broth, debone & chunk chicken to add later.

Use 1/2 – 3/4 of broth to cook vegetables.

Take broth and veg mix, add chicken and beans. Mix all together. Add remainder of spices and hot sauce if desired.

Let simmer approximately 1 hour to mix flavors. Add additional broth or bean juice to achieve desired consistency.

Serves 20-25

Overcoming Perfectionist Tendencies

Sooooooo….in an effort to get over some of these horrific perfectionist leanings of mine, here’s a before/after shot in which the “after” is not perfect.

Not TOO shabby, huh? So…this is a sampling of all that white trim I was talking about in previous posts. All those doors are painted, and all those frames are painted, too. I have a couple doors left, but they’re not in these pictures. LOL. Also, the hall light is still not changed out, the doorbell monstrosity hasn’t been updated, there’s no pictures on the walls yet, and the hardwoods have not been refinished yet, but that will probably be awhile. Still…perfection tendencies aside, it’s still a pretty impressive improvement in my opinion. After all, there was horrid wallpaper, UGH-ly carpet, and no doors at all in the “before” picture…LOL.

In case I haven’t said so before now…I absolutely ADORE our little housey.

I’ll have more to show later, when I get ALL my perfectionism under control. Baby steps, y’all. =)

Wrapping It Up

Well, I updated the ol blog for a happy new year. I flipped through my digi scrap stuff and picked things I liked, then I uploaded the new header….and realized it kinda matches our Christmas card this year. ROFL…obviously I’m really into black and white and red at this moment. Hahaha.

So it’s the end of another year. As always, I can’t believe another year is gone. It seems like we just started 2013 and now it’s time to write in a new date.

I’m actually quite proud of me…despite all the upheaval and transitions this year, not to mention spending all my spare time on so many things from house to school to church, etc., I’ve actually got next year’s planner all ready to go. And now I’m wrapping up the blog décor for another year. Plus, all the Christmas décor is down and I have an empty slate for bringing out everyday decorations…and I still have ONE day left of 2013. I’m SO proud.

Also on wrapping things up, while we’re not quite there yet, we’re getting VERY close to seeing some “after” pictures of several rooms in our house. I can’t wait to get those posted. Ya’ll have NO idea!

I LOVE finishing things. Maybe my project for 2014 should be getting out ALL my unfinished craft projects and finishing them, then selling the ones I don’t need anymore…lol. Seeing as how our new (smaller) house doesn’t have a space for a craft room (and I’ve already experienced the trauma of trying to work on crafts in our basement…did I tell you about that?), it’s probably way past time for me to take a stern look at my craft supplies and just ditch a large portion of it.

Huh. Something to think about. =)

Merry Christmas

Here’s a really poor quality (and slightly crooked) picture of a portion of our Christmas card this year. I took it with my phone, which explains all of the above. LOL. But Merry Christmas to all. =) Hope everyone had a beautiful, peaceful holiday. =) We sure did.

If you didn’t get our card this year, here’s a blog-edited version of it:

Dear Family & Friends,

Hello and warmest holiday greetings from our family. We hope this note finds you and your families happy and well. Every year it seems that fewer and fewer folks take the time to connect or be together (outside of weddings and funerals). Although we know that Jesus may or may not have been born on December 25th, we can celebrate His birth, life, death, and salvation every day of the year. This is just a good time to stop and send some greetings and an update or two.

Our MUNCHKIN is in fourth grade this year, and K-MAN is in second. They are both reading like champs now, from our second grade Magic Tree House fan, to our fourth grade Warriors (among many others) enthusiast. Neither of them enjoys the homework, but they love their teachers and classes at school.

We sold our house on SOME STREET in July. Unfortunately, we were not able to find another house to purchase before our closing date, but God worked it out for us to find a temporary rental house for the interim between permanent housing. The housing market in OUR TOWN seemed to experience a boom this year, which is great if you’re selling, but made it difficult when the houses we wanted were being sold before we could get in an offer.

We were very grateful to finally find a house in September. It needed a lot of work, and frankly, it still needs quite a bit, but we were able to get a lot finished before moving in on October 31st. It’s kept us very busy in the last few months (hence the lateness of this annual card and update), but we’re finally feeling semi-settled again and looking forward to staying in this one for a good while.

All in all, it just doesn’t seem possible that another year has gone by so quickly. It feels like we blinked and 2013 disappeared. We have had a very busy year, and the old saying rings true: “Time flies when you’re having fun.” We’ve truly been blessed this year, and we hope that you have, too. We’d love to hear back from you, and please stop in anytime you’re in our area.

All our love,
KC, Faith, MUNCHKIN, & K-MAN

And sounds like we’re ready to head off to grab some lunch, so this is it for today! Have a WONDERFUL day!

Bowchikkawowow

I am Ex. Hau. Sted. Millions of things running around in my head at this moment, but I wanted to stop and take a few minutes to update the (sorely) neglected blog.

Translated, this is what I do when I’m sitting at my desk trying to make homemade ornaments and I don’t feel like plugging the hot glue gun up for the few spare seconds before time to head to church…so I divert. Also, glitter and I have a love/hate relationship and I’m avoiding her right now, too. I figure divert is a MUCH better option for just before church than say hot glue guns and glitter.

And since I haven’t “diverted” to the blog in a while….like over a month (HOW HAS IT BEEN THAT LONG?) I thought it might be time.

Today was my last photography 110 class. Photography 115 and 120 start in January, but I’m going to enjoy the time off until then. I finished with a 98-A (yay).

Here’s a few assignments I had to do this semester that I don’t think I’ve shared yet….

Story telling assignment:

Lighting assignment: (diffused lighting and diffused directional lighting)

Depth of Field Assignment:

Composition assignment: (spot: the leaf; line: the stairs)

I really like class (although a couple of the classmates really try my patience—ugh) and even most of the homework isn’t terrible. I feel like I learned a lot this semester. Now when I take a bad picture, I know what I did wrong. LOL.

So in other news, the house is coming along nicely. I have Munchkin’s closet still to paint, and unfortunately, still some white trim that isn’t finished. ARGHHH. White trim makes me REALLY frustrated. Mostly because there is SO stinkin’ much of it that I paint and paint and paint and still don’t get finished. *sigh* The kitchen is functional (all but the microwave, some small trim, and replacing the electrical outlets and lights). Hopefully those things will all be fixed very soon. Also, we’re still looking for furniture for Munchkin’s room and we really need to go ahead and get closet organizers for both kids closets so I can unpack their toys and books. SOON…very soon…I hope.

I should have some before/after shots pretty soon, also. I just keep waiting for perfection…it’s just the kind of person I am. LoL. One day I’ll learn to get over that. Maybe.

Okeydokey…time for church. Later…whoever still reads this. =)

Whoa

Wow, the things I could say tonight…if I had energy to stay awake. This is the first day my computer has been opened in like…over a week, I think.

That is highly unusual, to say the least. I’ve just been a wee bit exhausted (as I am right now) and haven’t had the energy to find my computer and plug it up and open it. I’m not sure where I found the energy tonight, but I figured since it was open, I’d post a quick update.

The update is:

Our three month rental ended.

The house we bought didn’t get finished with renovating. We moved in last week anyway.

This picture is a small sample of life in our house at the moment:

I have no countertops, no finished cabinets to unpack anything into, no wall cabinets. But I only have one dirty utensil from supper. There are small benefits to not having a working kitchen. LOL…great excuse not to cook. Although, three months (going on four) of my kitchen packed in boxes, I’m actually looking forward to cooking again. I hope I remember how! LOL

Painting is my life story these days. Some day in the VERY near future (I hope), I will be back to share before and after photos! =)

There are so many other things also in my head right now but I have no energy to get them out. Goodnight. =)