Update on Resolutions

Since we're more than halfway through the year, I thought it would be a good time to check in on my resolutions:

1. 12 Pins a Month:

I think I have been unintentionally meeting this goal. I’ve used many Pinterest ideas for my last two events. I’ve also tried a few new recipes, a few kid activities, and a few ideas for greeting cards.

2. Publish photo books:

I haven’t even begun to think about this, but I WILL do it.

3. The Great Magazine Cleanout:

I made it through about two or three months so far. Now that I have a little free time, I plan to spend it reading magazines on the porch swing.  

4. Decorate Max’s Room:

Done! I’ve painted and made some artwork. I’d like to change out his dresser, but that may wait until we own a place of our own. I’ve also put in lots of hours into a rug (see below).

5. Contribute to family finances:

I’ve been working 3-4 days a week since I finished typing my resolutions. I only have a few months left so I need to step up my Etsy idea and by business start up.

6. Get down to (at least) my wedding weight:

Let’s not talk about this one yet.

7. Cook at home more:

I didn’t start out too well with this one, but just this month , I’ve spent two weekends making freezer meals. It was more fun than I thought it would be, and Luke helped with the second round.

8. Make a Latch Rug for Max’s Room:

I wasn’t kidding when I said it would take forever. I’m 16 hours in, and I have two rows complete. I’ve estimated that it will take 100 hours or so total. I’d love to have it done by his birthday, but we’ll see…

9. Connect with my Husband:

We haven’t really had a date night, but we do have movie nights after the baby goes to bed. Plus, we spend time doing other “around the house” stuff  (see #7).

10. Traveling Journals:

So far, I’ve bought two journals. That’s it.

11. Watch My Mouth:

Definitely working on this. Max is starting to repeat everything! And I know he definitely understands everything – including the tone of your voice.

Let's Catch Up

I’m a terrible blogger. That’s probably because I don’t really consider myself a blogger – not in the give-it-all-you’ve-got-until-you-get-sponsors way. I’m horrible with routine so sitting down to write every night is not up my alley. However, from my blog, I’ve pinned two invitations that are constantly getting repinned on Pinterest. Out of the blue, I received a comment, and it rejuvenated me. Sometimes I have good ideas, and I do like to share them. So today I vow to get back on the blogging wagon.

Currently, I’m working three days a week while staying home with my son on my “off” days. “Off days.” Ha. Anyway, in addition to work, I just finished another graduate class (only two left!) and am planning two events – a birthday party for an 8-year-old boy and a Bar Mitzvah. And I’m loving it. I decided to make the leap to starting my own event planning business. It makes sense – I’ve been doing it since I was 17. I think they are still finding glitter at my old high school.

 
I’ll blog about my process along the way as well as post some photos and tutorials after the events later this month. See you soon.

12 Pin Progress

I’ve been diligently working on my 12 pins this month. Here’s the update:

Organizing – For my organization pin this month, I made a menu for January. I cooked the first meal which was delicious, then blew my menu out of the water when I decided to try a detox diet for a week. (Currently on day 3. Ugh.) I’ll reevaluate my menu to continue my detox meals then continue with healthy meals for the rest of the month.

Recipe – I’ll be making many recipes this month, but the one I chose for my 12 Pins Project is a Loaded Potato Chicken Casserole. It was delicious!

Loaded Baked Potato & Chicken Casserole

http://inspiredreamer.com/loaded-baked-potato-chicken-casserole/

Ingredients

·         3 - 4 medium russet potatoes, scrubbed and diced
·         (about 1.5 lbs. or 4 1/2 cups)
·         1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, diced
·         4 slices bacon, cooked crisp, cooled and crumbled
·         1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
·         4 green onions, sliced (green parts only for low-FODMAP/low-fructose)
·         1/2 teaspoon salt
·         1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
·         1/2 cup heavy cream
·         2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
Instructions
1.       Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9" x 9" baking pan or casserole dish.
2.       Spread half of the diced potatoes in bottom of pan. Place the diced chicken breasts evenly on top. Season chicken with 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper. Sprinkle with half the bacon crumbles, 1/2 cup of the cheese, and half the green onions.
3.       Spread the remaining diced potatoes on top, followed by the remaining bacon, another 1/2 cup cheese, remaining green onions and another 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper. Pour heavy cream over top of casserole and then dot with the butter. Cover with aluminum foil and bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour. Uncover and bake another 30 minutes. In the last few minutes of baking, sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 cup cheddar cheese and bake until melted. Serve

Starting a Business – I found a pin that said “Five questions to ask” (before starting a business). Unfortunately, the link was dead. So this month, I learned the valuable lesson of checking links before I include them in the monthly dozen.

Save/Make Money – My friend Dawn has done the five dollar savings plan and it worked for her so I decided to give it a try. I have fifteen dollars in my undie drawer as I type this. Huzzah.

Holiday – I made a gray yarn-wrapped wreath for my son’s birthday in October then turned it into a Halloween wreath by adding bats. Now, it is the argyle heart Valentine wreath that I’ve seen floating around Pinterest from Mineforthemaking.com.

Recipe (dessert) –For the dessert, I chose to make Root Beer Float Cookies. My husband and I decided that even though they were pretty decent, they wouldn’t make it into the baking rotation. I’d take a real root beer float over those any day.

Clothing/Sewing – For this project, I found a pin about adding a ruffle to a sweater. I’ve had a white sweater for about 8 years now that I’ve been wanting to festoon a little. However, before I did anything else, I wanted to dye it royal blue. When I finally did, I was a bit disappointed with how it turned out. It wasn’t as vibrant as I planned so now I don’t know if I want to continue “saving” it.

Kid Stuff – There was a cute pin about making foam circles for the bath tub (courtesy of homemadepins.com). I decided to make different shapes instead. Now Max has circles, squares, arrows, ovals, and his own name to play with, and he’s loved them. I had a packet of foam sheets from the dollar store so this was a really cheap project.

January Projects

Here are the 12 categories of pins that I’ve chosen for January:

 
Organization
Recipe (adult)
Recipe (kid)
Recipe (dessert) 
Starting a Business
Save/Make Money
Holiday
Homemade Gift
Workout
Clothing/Sewing Project
Home Project
Kid Stuff (homemade toy, teaching opportunity, etc.)

I’ll probably keep most of them each month occasionally switching out a few.

Reflections and Resolutions

Here’s to 2014

I ended 2013 feeling tired and overwhelmed. At any given time, I can easily sit down and come up with a list of 60-80 things to do (off the top of my head). Realizing that I had this many unfinished projects at the end of the year was quite deflating. I had to think: what DID I do this past year? Here’s a look back:

Bigger items: I had surgery. (A real time suck.) I planned my son’s first birthday party and my sister’s graduation parties (each of which were great but didn’t quite live up to my overblown expectations). I also helped plan a going-away party and a Christmas party. I moved (between Thanksgiving and Christmas – what were we thinking?) I finished another graduate class (three more to go!). Started a blog (which temporarily fell by the wayside). Finished decorating the nursery. Took a vacation to North Carolina.

Everyday stuff: I stayed home with the babe. Most of my days seemed to consist of changing, feeding, playing, and trying desperately to get him down for naps. Then there was the obsessive amount of pinning.

Fun stuff: Picnics with Luke and Max. Quitting Facebook. Having our families visit. Meeting our new nephew. Celebrating our 14^th wedding anniversary. Doing crossword puzzles. Taking Max to the zoo and the library.

Finished Projects: Invitations for five events, decorations for those events, a few new recipes, a wreath that has been used for three different holidays, artwork for the nursery, floral/letter art, many birthday cards, read half a dozen books or so.

Whew. Okay, I feel better writing that. Apparently, I did get a few things done this past year. I had originally started my blog with the thought that I would write something (and DO something!) everyday. What an unnecessary burden. I realize now that there will be days when I’m incredibly proactive, days when I’m distracted with household/family tasks, and days when I want to take naps and surf Pinterest all day. And that’s ok.

Of course, I still want to set goals for myself. So here are my Rough Draft Resolutions for 2014:

1. 12 Pins a Month:

I have hundreds and hundreds of things pinned on my boards – recipes, sewing projects, homemade gift ideas, artwork, etc. I think it is reasonable to try 3 a week or 12 a month in different categories. After I finish the original 12 then I am free to run wild with other projects until the next month.

2. Publish photo books:

There are two photo books that I would like to put together. The first is “Making Max” which would be all about the adventures of pregnancy. The second is “Max: Year One” which is… pretty obvious. I also want/need to update his baby book.

3. The Great Magazine Cleanout:
I moved a huge box filled with magazines that I’ve been collecting for years to the new house. Well, Luke did because it was too heavy for me. This year, I’m cleaning them out month by month during my lazy-on-the-couch weekends.

4. Decorate Max’s Room:

More than any other room in our new place, I want to decorate the baby’s. I have grand ideas and I plan to follow through on all of them. First step: painting.

5. Contribute to family finances:

I haven’t really worked since I was pregnant, other than a few projects here and there, and I’m ready to step it up. Just this week, I came up with (what I think is) an awesome idea for an Etsy shop. I’m going to get started soon.

6. Get down to (at least) my wedding weight:

I’m not sure how I ended up where I did this year. I should have been all fine and dandy losing baby weight, but alas…no. The next resolution should help a bit.

7. Cook at home more:

We eat out WAY too much so I’ve developed a menu for January. My first dinner was a success so I’m looking forward to making many more.

8. Make a Latch Rug for Max’s Room:

This is going to take FOREVER, but I’m dedicated to finishing it. I’ve already designed it, so next I have to cut a mere 28,000 pieces of yarn. (Yes, 28,000.)

9. Connect with my Husband:

It is hard to talk about anything but kid stuff (especially when yours is the cutest kid on the planet), but I want to make an effort to have some “us” time.

10. Traveling Journals:

I want to start two different shared journals. One for me, my mom, and my sister. One for me, my mother-in-law, and my sisters-in-law. The rules: 1. Record a snapshot of what’s going on when you receive the journal. 2. Keep it no more than a week. 3. Pass it on.

11. Watch My Mouth:

The kid is totally starting to get it. When I say, “Go get your (fill in the blank),” I don’t have to point anymore. He also understandings “Put your dirty clothes in the hamper,” and, “Get in your chair.” That means not only do I need to watch the adult language, but also, well, everything (i.e. I changed his last diaper. It is YOUR turn.)

Well, I think that’s a good start, don’t you? I’ll keep the progress reports coming.

Happy New Year.

August 26, 2013

Today I…

Almost Went Nuts

Max has entered another screeching phase. He did it all day long.

Am currently learning Serenity prayer…

August 25, 2013

Today I…

Finished September Birthday Cards

Part two: