December 31, 2009

I could tell you how are are recovering from bronchitis and pnemonia but that is not a very fun way to start out a post. Tonight we are going to be enjoying some fun food. Cheese Sticks, Cheese Dip, Ranch Dip, Chips, Crudites, Chocolate Chip Cookies and Banana Punch.

Our Christmas decorations are still up. We used colored lights on our tree this year and it was very warm and cheerful. We're not ready to take them down just yet. Shane's parents gave me a pair of fuzzy, red snowflake pj's for Christmas and they have been my new uniform this week. I luh-huh-huv them. We had a nice Christmas with Shane's side of the family. Every year it is a lot of fun to see the kids get to play with their cousins. We both have wonderful families, that is a blessing we love.

This week we've rented a lot of movies and spent a lot of time on the couches with the Christmas lights and fireplace on. We've been playing a lot of games.

I'm scheming for wintry mantle ideas when I take my Christmas things down. Some tall sticks, silver beaded garland, white candles...lots and lots of white candles.

Playroom Pictures

This is a picture of the playroom when the previous owners lived here. It was the gym/crib/animal kingdom area where the dog and turtles lived. The second picture starts the after pictures. We painted the room Edgecomb Gray. We just got back from Hobby Lobby where Jibs screamed bloody murder the entire time I was making the biggest decision of the day-what ribbon to buy for my curtains. And there I stood holding a snotty nosed, screaming, red faced one year old sweating bullets while I debated between green or blue ribbon, wide or skinny. Not even the evil stares of customers could break my resolve to be able to say: Mission Impossible Accomplished. Here are, for your viewing enjoyment, the Playroom Pictures.

Fabric for curtains: $12
Ribbon (curtains & pictures): $14
Package of Upholstery Tacs to hang curtains: $.99
Massage Package for my tired shoulders: $50

Post Office Acoustics

Why do the voices of my children get amplified when we are at the Post Office?

Two years ago we walk in and my son yells, "LOOK MOM, STAR HORES!!! (Wars, and yes we are in speech therapy). Thank you and yes, we are the family on staff at the church down the road.

Last week we walk in and get to the counter. I'm taking care of my postal business and the two big boys are standing to my left. One of them tells the other in the most loud, crystal clear voice you've ever heard, "Ow, that's my weiners don't hit me there!" I gave them 'the look'. You know, the "we don't talk about weiners, or any body parts at the Post Office unless we want to die look." I did not want to turn around to walk out. I contimplated insurance on my package as long as possible and then turned to do the walk of shame to the door.

Thankfully the line was all the way out the door so I had an extra long walk of shame.

Timber.......

We lost the fun, whimsical tree today thanks to our resident 1 year old. We're all doing as good as can be expected under the circumstances. Christmas clean up is starting a little early this year. We may be decorating an unsuspecting ficus tree to please the kiddos. If we do pictures will be sure to follow. One look at those heartbroken little faces should let you know that you'll be seeing a new tree soon. Thank you and have a nice day.

Don't be deceived!!!

Drum Roll Please....INTRODUCING the State Of My Home Right This Very Second........

Here's the deal. I love Martha. I love Growing Kids God's Way and want to raise obedient, happy little boys. I love Ina and cooking a great dish. I love decorating with ideas I learn from my dear friend Nester. And I love to talk about all these things on my blog. HOWEVER, don't ever think I have it all together because I don't. Come on it, you'll enjoy this.

I don't have on a lick of make-up. We have a Staff/Elder Christmas Party tonight and I look horrible right now.
The kids have been watching Saved By The Bell all morning.





The babies mess from DINNER last night-he throws his food and utentials on the floor. Growing Kids God's Way not working today. Or yesterday. (to the right, they are dressing themselves)

Spilled milk and more floor shots.

Laundry and supplies for our dinner party tommorow night at our house. That's right-22 are coming. The last frontier of my office. Where is all this stuff supposed to go?

The baby throwing a horrible fit. He's been wearing his pj's toga style for about 2 hours.

Breakfast dishes. Pecan Sweet Rolls. Very high in. Sugar. And pouring rain. Cold, pouring rain.

Tons of dirty dishes.
Thank you and have a nice day.

Sitting Room

Shane got on the tall scary ladder to hang these. He could be dead. But he, and my arrangement on the top of my armoire survived this Friday night fun.

We took a big old piece of plaid linen...

Attached 24 ring clips...

One manly man hanging the biggest rod I could find...

And here is what we came up with(I apologize for the dark picture, I'm a cooking decorator who wishes she could take good pictures).

I have a feeling we'll be experimenting with what to do with these windows. For now, even though 4 of the windows are covered I love how the fabric warmed this room up.

We went to http://www.fabric.com/ to order fabric. My fabric was all between $3.98 and $7.98 a yard which is a steal for great fabric. I was so pleased with the quality of it. More rooms to come...

I Heart SAM'S CLUB!

Oh how I love going to Sam's. It all begins with an $ .87 Pibb Extra. I love everything about Sam's. The samples, the ginourmous bulk items, the cement floors, the produce. Sigh. I love it. You would be so proud of me. Today we made our annual trip for our Youth & Family Christmas dinner.

I've been geering up for self-control for weeks because usually I get in there and go nuts. Or buy nuts in bulk or something like that.

Today I spent less than $20. Wanna know what I got? Mamaw and Aunt Linda discovered Sharp White Cheddar Cheese. Yes mam they did. Life changing. Truly. So I got that, bananas, and a 3 pack of Vanilla Soy Milk.

When Shane and I got married we went shopping to set up our new little kitchen. We went to Sam's because when you're poor and eat free samples for dinner that's where you go. Kidding. Kindof. Anyway, I needed flour. Sam's had a 20pound pack of flour so clearly that is what I bought. Lord have mercy, I did not even bake at the time. The flour took up one cabinet out of the 4 we had. It was really funny and comical after I realized what I had done.

Today I wrote down some prices on stuff. I'm always curious how prices compare to the things I buy most at the grocery store. If you are interested in comparing these prices to your grocery store you can print this post. Oh what a bunch of bargain shoppers we are:

KETCHUP 6.27 (2) 44OZ BOTTLES
MUSTARD 4.64 (2) 30 OZ BOTTLES
HOT SAUCE 2.86 3 PK
PREGO 7.83 2 PK 67 OZ (EACH BOTTLE WAS 4LB3OZ)
PARMESAN 7.98 24OZ
RAMEN NOODLES 5.88 36 PACK
CRUSHED TOMATOS 2.68 102OZ CAN
MAC AND CHEESE 7.37 12 PK
PURE VANILLA EXTRACT 6.88 16OZ
CHICKEN BROTH 5.38 (3) 32OZ
CHICKEN BROTH 7.88 (12) 14OZ CANS
PEANUT BUTTER 7.22 96OZ
GRAPE JELLY 3.42 (2) 22OZ SQUEEZE BOTTLES
HONEY 11.33 80OZ
CAPTAIN CRUNCH 4.82 (2) 20OZ BAGS
FRUIT CREAM OATMEAL 8.46 40 PKGS
CHOCOLATE CHIPS 9.34 72OZ
LUZIANNE TEA 10.86 96 COUNT
FOLGERS 9.32 48OZ
APPLE JUICE 3.98 (2) 96OZ
SUGAR 5.69 10 LB

Is this not the most riveting reading material you've laid your eyes on all day??!!!! Now that a good time has been had by all I'm off to go do something. OK, OK, I didn't want to say but you guessed right-I'm gonna find something to clean. Unless I get sidetracked that is...

Cultivating Friendships

Have you noticed the older you get the more intentional you have to be about cultivating good friendships?

The hustle and bustle of life take over and friendships can get pushed to the back burner.

I have no earth shattering thoughts on the topic other than I was just thinking of it today. There was an email that went around once talking about Get Yourself Some Girlfriends. To have lemonade with or something? You know the one...you had it to forward it to 6 of your closest friends or you didn't love Jesus and your wish wasn't going to come true. OK, yeah, you know what I'm talking about now.

Here are some things I like to invite friends over to do:

• share recipes (shocker of all shocker's!)
• come over Friday night with their family for Dessert and Coffee
• I am going to plan a formal dinner with my friend Amy. We want to have several courses and use the fine china.

My friend Becke' came over and helped me pack my old house, clean my new one, and unpack my new one. Wow, now that is some love right there.

I'm thinking these next few weeks I am going to make time for friends. Leave the piles of laundry, the fans that need wiped down, the garage that could use some organizing, the leaves that could be raked...and invite some folks over for some fun.

Strata, Fruit & Fabric

Thanks to all my family for giving money to me for my birthday I got to order 33 pounds of fabric that Mr. UPS delivered to me manana. (does that mean yesterday cause that's when it came???). Do you know that joker did not even ring the bell to let me know he left a huge amount of fabric propped against my door? It was wrapped in clear wrap. Here is a sneak peak of what I'll be up to this week.

Here is a Strata recipe from Gale Gand I'll be trying this week. It's a fun way to use up that last bit of ham.

Strata:

5 cups of cubed french bread (with crust)

10 large eggs

1 quart whole milk

1 tsp dry mustard

1 tsp salt

add in's you want: ham, cheddar, bacon, onion, spinach, tomatoe, mushroom

- butter a 9x13 pan

-put bread cubes in dish and sprinkle with the cheese

-in a large bowl whisk together the eggs, milk, mustard and salt. pour the egg mixture over the bread cubes. sprinkle the filling ingredients of your choice over the egg mixture and fold them in gently. cover and chill for at least 4 hours and up to 24 hours.

-heat the oven to 350 degrees

-uncover the baking dish and bake for 60 minutes, until the mixture has puffed up slightly and is golden brown on top, and the strata doesn't shimmy with uncooked custard when you shake the pan. that's right you heard me right, you'll be doing the old shimmy test to test the doneness. that right there is reason enough to try this dish.

-tent he dish with foil if the top is browning too quickly. let cool for 5 minutes before serving. serve by the spoonful, using a large serving spoon.

we'll be having strata with fruit for dinner. the nice thing is this dish can be prepared in advance since it has to chill. it's sort of like a quiche except more fun since you get to shimmy and tent it.

Thanksgiving

We had a very nice Thanksgiving holiday.

It was a Food Network Extravaganza. My Mom made some killer cranberry sauce with Craisins, Orange Juice and Fresh Mango. My Aunt Linda made the Neely's Pumpkin Cheesecake with Cinammon Cool-Whip (fresh whipping cream, powdered sugar, Cinnamon and vanilla), and Mamaw made Pecan Pie.

We have been enjoying some leftover ham and turkey sandwiches.

I've been cleaning windows. I read a recipe for good window cleaner somewhere and it works like a charm to get hazy looking stuff of your window glass.

1 cup rubbing alcohol
1 cup water
1 TBS ammonia
spray bottle

Mix all together. (warning: if you love to smell things like me, DO NOT take a big old whiff of the ammonia. it was a painful life lesson i don't want you to have to endure)

Oh, and speaking of telemarketer's, how do they all have my new phone number? You don't even know my new number yet. This morning I was so wrong. A dish network guy called. I told him we don't watch TV. He talked about my internet service and phone servie. I said, "Sir, we are purists and don't believe in electronics." He told me he did not understand. I just snickered and hung up. Wrong of me. So wrong. But Funny.

Enjoy your clean windows.

Christmas Tree Food???

I'mmmmm Baaaacccccckkkkkkkkkkkkkkk!!!

The hiatus is over and we have a home. And I have a question I need ideas on...that is if I still have any readers after the 4 week vacation.

I'm always trying to think of fun little traditions to start in our family. For example we did something so fun for Halloween this year that I'd like to start doing every year. We had a chili cook-0ff and then when we came in from gathering all the booty we had Gingerbread and Hot Apple Cider. Last year when we got to Shane's parents for Thanksgiving Anna had Gingerbread and Cider waiting and it was soooo good.

OK so back to my question. What would be a fun dinner to serve for putting up the tree night? I have one request for us to make M&M Cookies so that is on the menu. But the main course....hmmmm. Do you have any traditions you do every year when you trim the tree and deck the halls?

Mrs. Clean has a house

Well, we're not homeless anymore. We bought a house today.

Tommorow we get to get in and start cleaning. It will probably take Saturday and Sunday to get it sparkling. If you are not busy and want to come call me. I'm horrible at accepting help but I'll throw it out there.

I have 4 pints of paint samples, all Benjamin Moore.

Revere Pewter

Edgecomb Gray

Wedgewood Gray

Rockport Gray

I'll tell you what. It's a lot easier to boldly proclaim I'm changing my colors on my blog. The part where you actually follow through is a little more nerve wracking. The change if official though because today I ordered carpet with some gray undertones.

College

When I was growing up we had the Amy Grant Age To Age tape. I used to listen to that tape at night when I was putting my pink sponge rollers in my hair in preparation for the next day when I would brush the curls out, secure them in a banana clip and top it off with a big pink, lace bow. Oh dear Lord I know.

During this nightly routine one thought often crossed my mind. Night School. I wanted to take night classes when I went to college. Do you know why? Because silly, everyone knows your hair looks best at night. Especially right before you go to bed. You toss it up to wash your face and there you are in your pj's, looking at the reflection of a beauty queen in the mirror. Then you turn off the light and go to bed.

2 words to explain my absense...

DIAL UP.

We do not have access to Hi Speed Internet right now and let me tell you, it is difficult to find the time and patience to log on and wait...

I tried to look at your blog and I cannot see your pictures.

What have you been up to? Have you forgotten about old Bugs & Sunshine's Blog? Oh I hope not. I'll be back. It may be sketchy the next 4 weeks or so. Boy do have have some crazy stuff to share coming soon.

Straight Talk

I've been doing some major blog browsing this week. Here are some conclusions I have drawn. Everything looks prettier when spray painted white. When we first got married and I started setting up a house I purchased tradional looking stuff because I didn't know any better. 9 year later I have realized something about myself.

When I see a photo of a room I love there is not a piece of cherry furniture around. It is all white, white, white.

My goal over the course of this next year is to try to move towards the look I love. You know what else I love about my blog therapy sessions? I know full well that it would make no sense to go to Targe' and pay $80 for a pair of two lamps I love. I know that I can take $10, be patient, and find what I want at a sale of some sort-tag sale, thrift store, etc...

I've been looking at my stuff and it is OK, but it doesn't make me all happy and fuzzy feeling on the inside.

I have some really nice things that are about to get a slap of white spray paint. I know, it makes me feel a little nervous too, the thought of spray painting something I paid good money for. But why not? I'm just going to try it. What's the worst thing that will happen? I have a house full of tacky looking white spray painted stuff? You'll still come visit won't you?

3:30pm Spaghetti?

Do you ever get the hankerin' for a good spaghetti supper at 3:30pm in the afternoon when all the kids are still napping? Yeah, me too.

Here's a little tip for you: Do you store left over spaghetti in one bowl with pasta on bottom sauce on top? Well, when you go to reheat it, add a can of crushed tomatoes-it brings it back to life. So good.

Extreme Make-Over-Bugs Edition

We have moved. Temporarily. And THESE OUR PICTURES OF OUR FUTURE HOME. I will tell you this has been a lllooonggg week. Our real estate agent found this house when the sign had been in the yard less than 12 hours. We saw it and made an offer on the spot. That night we stayed up all night, literally, and I was sick thinking the most horrific decision in 9 years of marriage had just been made.


I was having flashbacks of the dark, tapestry curtains covering the beautiful windows and fisherman decorating in places like the master bath. The next day we went back to take one more look and to tell our sweet real estate agent we just could. not. doit only I fell in love with all the possibility all over again. So, here you go...my next project-I mean HOME...come on in and have a look around.


This is the dining room that will not be a dining room at all when I get my hands on it. I want comfortable chairs, ottomans, beautiful, elegant, a comfy and cozy sitting space. You can see the fireplace from this room. These windows get the west/afternoon sun. MY FIRST DESIGN QUESTION: curtains? 2 inch blinds? plantation shutters? cover all windows? some? what shade of paint? There are 3 gorgeous columns in this room you can see in the outside of this picture.



This is the eat in kitchen. Bye bye big thing on the wall and tapestry valance. And light fixture over the table no offense but I hate you and you are about to get a make-over. Do you need to be painted white? Yes, I think you do. Those shades or globe covers or whatever your name is are on the first recycling truck. Hmmm. Will a nice candlestick looking lightbulb work for a vintagy feel-with no shade? On a dimmer? I wander...

This is the entry that has my mind reeling. The paper shade thing on the window and the sad sheers on the sidelights will be going. I'll be on the scavenge for a gorgeous chandelier with lots of glass and light and vintage charm. I'll be patient and I'll wait but I'm saying it out loud here, a wonderful chandelier will hang in this space one day.

Master Bathroom: No your eyes are not deceiving you and yes that is fish net and bouys adorning the glass brick window. The jury is still out on how I feel about the glass brick but there is potential in this room if I've ever seen potential.

I have a black four poster bed with a white matalesse coverlet. Our bed is king size. I was thinking Benjamon Moore's Wedgewood Gray for this space. This room is seen from the living room. I want it to be clean lined and fresh.

The bathroom can also be seen from the living room if I want it to be...wall color is going to be very, very important in this space. Luckily I googled "Wedgewood Gray" today and found Annie, yes, me and you have a new best friend. We really do. Just like your family had to pay a high price for your absence when you picked up the Twilight series, she too will be the reason you are MIA for awhile. So much inspiration on her blog.

Our future playroom. I know, no room with a bay window and french doors should be the landing spot for your Gazelle, but I must say it has happened without my consent. ANOTHER DESIGN WONDERLAND: visions of Pottery Barn Kids are dancing through my head. Colors. Fabrics. This room screams cheerfulness. The bay window gets the western sun. Plantation shutters? Plaids? Checks? Stripes? Polka Dots? A bench with great pillows, bookshelves with baskets, whimsical rug, this room needs to be a magical wonderland for the boys. There space for them and their friends.

The living room. There is so much about this space that gives me a heart attack but somehow I am till able to sit here and continue breathing and typing. A formal/traditional look is very pretty-just not my personal style. I have this look on my current bedroom windows and don't like it. They are a result of a sale at Targe' before I new better but oh that mantle. What am I going to do with you? And bricks around the fireplace, do you need a coat of white paint?

So, there you have it. The reason I can't sleep. The reason I can't eat (ok, well that is not true). I am emailing the Bossy Color Lady and begging for her color help. I am emailing Nester for design thoughts and I would love to hear your thoughts.

The Cold Hard Truth

The cold hard truth of the matter is we are being worthless today.

Shane and I both have horrible sinus infections, not the fline (Swine) flu as my boys call it. A trip to the doc this morning confirmed this. Last week my oldest son asked me, "If you get the fline flu how many days will you be a pig and when will you turn back into a human?" Great question.

We are both getting on antibiotics to feel better. I slept until 10:30am today. We are all still in our pj's. The boys are playing video games and watching TV. The baby has been running around free reign tearing stuff up. He pulled the acorns out of my arrangement on my kitchen table and has dropped the poor pumpkin onto the floor more times than I care to count.

I am so sad that Coach Mo got the boot last night on Biggest Looser. I really like Coach and Abby. Most of the other people are downright annoying. Not all, but most.

Do you want to know the good news? I don't plan to even brush my hair today or open the blinds. We are staying in and bumming out. It feels nice. Veeeeerrryyyy Nice.

So next time you see me don't be scared. It was just sinus troubles that knocked me out this last week and I'm on medicine now. Sometimes it feels really nice to have to take a sick day. You know what would be even nicer? If Papa John's just happened to deliver dinner to my door tonight. Shane, are you out there? Are you reading my subtle hint? Ahem.