Hubby does dinner!!!

Ryan has decided he wants to learn how to cook and has volunteered to take over dinner duty every Saturday night (no complaints here)!!! My mom got us this awesome cookbook for Christmas and so far everything he has made has been delicious! Last week, Smothered Steak Sandwiches, tonight, Quick & Healthy Pasta Carbonara! I can hardly wait!!!

Seriously recommend this cookbook!!!

Project 52

I saw this on one of my favorite blogs Handbags & Handguns and decided it was right up my alley!  I am never one to be caught without some kind of list and I usually have at least two "To Do" lists going every day.  I love the feeling of getting to cross something off and not having to carry it over to my list for the next day!!!  With that said here is my "To Do" list for 2011!

1. Paint Silas's Room
2. Cut Bangs
3. Donate Blood
4. Try Zumba
5. Get Silas in a big boy bed
6. Host a Girls Night In dinner party
7. Run a 5k for a cause
8. Use my Crock-Pot at least 2x per month
9. Try at least one new recipe per week
10. Read two classic novels (over 50 years old)
11. Dress up for Halloween (in a real costume)
12. Get some house plants and keep them alive
13. Read at least 25 books
14. See at least four movies in the theater
15. Find something pretty and childproof to organize my jewelry
16. Keep an exercise log
17. Take a trip somewhere with Ryan (even if it is just for a night or two)
18. Host a BBQ this summer
19. Get professional family photos taken
20. Watch 25 movies from my Netflix Queue
21. Go to a Duck game or two
22. GO to a museum or art gallery
23. Take the kids to at least four new parks this summer
24. Take a road trip
25. Learn how to bake bread & rolls from scratch
26. Send out two handwritten notes/cards per month
27. Grow tomatoes 
28. Update blogs at least once a week
29. Organize our linen closet once and for all (and keep it that way)
30. Get a hot stone massage
31. Potty train Silas
32. Get our ceilings painted
33. Get Noah out of diapers at bedtime
34. Read at least 10 books to the boys per day
35. Bake a pie from scratch (crust and all)
36. Take the boys to the Children's Museum at least twice
37. Go to a concert
38. Implement at least three things we can do at home to live more green
39. Go to the zoo at least once a month when the weather is nice enough
40. Design my dream dining room with hopes of moving the Cozy Coupes out of ours to have a nice family meal or two
41. Clean out my composter and start using it again
42. Meet my annual retirement account contribution limit
43. Keep track of our budget for the entire year
44. Go to the coast at least once (Silas has still never been)
45. Learn how to make a coconut mojito
46. Grow mint in my herb garden for those mojitos
47. Hire a babysitter for an entire day to get out of the house and do whatever I want
48. Register Silas for a fun class or two while Noah is at school
49. Make a ridiculously huge holiday meal for one holiday during the year
50. Go sledding
51. Hike up a mountain (no mountain in particular)
52. Go to Multnomah Falls (hiking to the top does not count as mountain listed above :)

 

Green Thumb

Check out the beautiful roses I picked from the yard yesterday!!!  I really was not looking forward to having rose bushes but have actually been loving them this summer!

Confession...

I have to confess that I have not been feeling too organized lately.  To anyone hanging out in the common areas, my house is super clean and appears organized but there are some serious messes in hiding.  Case in point, my bathroom...  I have a daily struggle to spend 10 minutes getting myself together and ready for the day.  This would be so much easier if I could just drag myself out of bed 10 or 15 minutes before Captain Destructo and his little accomplice but I instead of giving up a few precious minutes of sleep I just deal with the aftermath of the bathroom annihilation that happens every morning.

**Everything you see in these drawers is usually emptied onto the floor or is placed in strange places around the house every morning, it is like a never ending scavenger hunt around here**

Just a couple examples...

I used to have the most organized bathroom drawers ever!  I always knew
where everything was and could get ready in a flash.  Now, I not only have
some food items and trucks in my drawers, I can't ever  seem to find
anything and may even spend 5 of my 10 minutes digging
through toy boxes looking for my mascara...

This used to be my "hair" drawer where I kept all things hair related.
As you can see it now holds my garlic press, a dinner plate and who
knows what else is lurking under the monstrous pile of all things
used (or not used so much these days) in the name of beauty!!!

Ready to Compost...

I have been pondering getting a composter for several months and finally ordered one a couple weeks ago! I am so excited to get started!!! I have been thinking about all of the food scraps that I shove in the garbage disposal or in the trash and figure I can do a little better than that. I chose a composter that I can continuously add stuff to, no need to do it in batches. This will be awesome for the kitchen scraps and for my miscellaneous yard clippings. I did lots of research and read lots of reviews before I decided which composter to get. It came in the mail a couple days ago and I have been saving all of my scraps just waiting to get out and get it all set up! Well, today was the big day (first day of no rain), and it is finally ready to go!

Mine does not look nearly this pretty right now... It was quite a muddy mess getting it all set up. It has to be on a hard surface with cracks in it so our little friends from the ground can get up inside. Needless to say I had a self taught lesson in brick laying this afternoon and seriously smashed a couple fingers in the process! I'll post a picture once I get all the muddy hand prints an dirt chunks off of it!

I was planning on composting all my fruit/vegie scraps but was shocked that you can also compost things like bread, hair, lint, tea bags, shredded paper, egg shells and even the coffee filters!

So cool!!!

My Little Friends

He's a little shy...

This lucky frog gets to hang in my most favorite pot

next to the delicious rosemary!

And this guy just sleeps all day long!

The Office

It is no secret that I Y Pottery Barn and am totally obsessed with their office organization stuff, especially the Bedford Collection! My friend the UPS man arrived with several Bedford wall components for our office today and I can't wait to get started! I'll post a picture later when I finally have a camera but this is what I am talking about! Maybe I am really easily entertained but I am so excited to put this together and fill all of those slots and shelves...