The closet makeover results

Now if you remember we went from this













To this















And since I have the camera out, (on my phone which explains the poor quality,)I thought I'd show you the great denim skirt of '09.



In this picture I was trying to decide between boots and shoes and sent a picture to Emmy. She never got the picture but I went with the shoes. Not that you asked.

Ten reasons why I love Costco

1. You can find an 18-pack of Easy Mac, a box (a big one) of wipes, your contacts, and fresh flowers all within a ten foot radius.

2. The lights always entertain a baby who is otherwise trapped and forced to look at blank ceilings in their car seat.

3. They have cupcakes that are twice the size of regular cupcakes.

4. They also have those cinnamon crunchy things that they have at Taco Bell. But they're much much bigger.

5. The playground equipment goes up in January to remind you that one day, your children will play outside again.

6. There is never a shortage of good people watching specimen(s).

7. Their pizza. Got me through three pregnancies.

8. The chickens. You didn't know they have chickens? Oh yes, yes they sure do.

And these two hoodlums want to see the chickens first thing when we pull up in the parking lot. Want to see the chickens?
There they are. It's like Disneyland I tell you. They spin and everything. Man that's some good entertainment.

9. They sell Carter's sleepers for $7.99 but be sure to buy them when you first see them or the next time they'll be gone. Speaking from experience.

10. They sell Baby Lulu outfits.

This one...
or this one...


11. I couldn't end it with a picture so my final reason to love Costco is that no one makes you feel funny about buying a jumbo pack of feminine products. After all EVERYTHING THERE IS A JUMBO PACK.

The best things in life are cheap

It goes without saying that the Pioneer Woman knows how to cook. Almost everyone at my table at bible study on Friday had heard of her cookbook. So she knows how to cook. Love her book, love her blog, love her in general.

Folks, I am about to testify that she is now my cooking hero. Her recipes are easy, she includes pictures for almost every step of every recipe and they are so...well...good. Fresh off Nutrisystem, guess which recipe I tried.

Of course.

The cinnamon rolls. It's only natural to want to jump right into the deep end of cooking goodness.

Look at all the pictures! Every one is right on--exactly how mine looked.
Here are some of my ingredients. Did I clean up and make them all look organized for you? Um well no. Sorry about that. I made these on the day that Joy learned to move from the play room to the kitchen and I almost tripped over her multiple times. When I had the chance to snap a picture, I took it.
This is one of the first steps--adding the yeast to make the dough. That yeast stuff is like it's own animal. I felt like I was doing a science experiment.
There's a semi-organized ingredient picture for you.
Rolling the dough. The kitchen already smelled good by this point.
The icing is, in my opinion, what sets these cinnamon rolls apart in their own galaxy. I may or may not have licked the bowl. I may or may not have also licked the pie plates that I took the rolls to bible study in when I got home. I like to keep the mystery alive for you.
If I had scratch-n-sniff stickers for my blog I'd put one right here. And you'd love me and the Pioneer Woman for life.
Oh look. Now, I admit that my icing looks darker than the pictures in the cookbook and I have no idea why. I probably did something wrong but I promise they still tasted like they were supposed to. Pure heavenly goodness.

And you know, the ingredients are so cheap it's a no-brainer. You know when you find a good recipe somewhere, (usually in a Martha Stewart magazine if you're my Mom,) and you start trying to find the ingredients they are only made in countries you've never heard of and are so dang expensive by the time you find them you don't even care anymore?

This is not one of those recipes. Butter, flour, milk, powdered sugar, butter, cinnamon, butter, well you get the picture. They were not a pocket book threat at all.

And my oh my are they tasty! Not that I tried a whole roll, mind you, I worked too hard the last few months to actually eat one.

If I'm being honest, (which, at this point, what do I have to lose with you people,) I know I would've polished off at least three they were so good. Licking the plates/bowl of the icing seemed like the easiest thing to do so that I could testify to the recipe. And if I'm being honest some more, the icing is always my favorite part anyway.

The end. Go find the recipe and make these.

That's all, folks.

Clark Kent

Also known as Ty, my "hey Mom I went in your bathroom while you were feeding Joy downstairs and found your glasses even though I know I'm not supposed to" son.

Strange that they are not too big for his head.

We have got to get out of this house.

Closet mayhem

Oh Lord help me. This is what I'm working on today.













































If you're in the area give me a call. I'd LOVE to be interrupted. Wish me luck.

Alright, deep breath...I'm going in.




Before I do, in honor of Joy's 8 month birthday, I'm gonna go eat my lunch. Mmmmm. Isn't my new calendar cute? Ty and his Daddy made it at the Home Depot workshop last Saturday. Thanks honey(s)!

My Little Drummer Boy: Update

A quick update for y'all...

Today was Ty's appointment with the developmental pediatrician and since Sean is home sick from work (sinus infection so he can "rest," while helping with the kids since he's not contagious. Ha!) so we both got to go and sit in the room while the testing was going on.

We felt good about whatever she was going to find because since, (like all kids,) he has good and bad days we weren't sure but that he'd totally freeze during the test and then we'd feel like it wasn't a fair evaluation. Our prayers were answered by him acting totally normal. In fact, he answered questions more/better than we thought he would coming from a stranger. We may or may not have told him we were going to see a teacher instead of a doctor. Scary word-doctor. Safe, fun word-teacher.

Anyway, long family-only-cares-about-the-details story later, she said he isn't on the Autism scale at all and will not progress in that direction since he's already 3. His cognitive testing showed he was above average (woohoo) but his verbal skills were level with a 2 1/2 year old. No surprise at all, well maybe about the cognitive part but we knew he was behind on speech. She said over time he will catch up and she recommended keeping him in the PPCD program, (that he started yesterday and seems to love,) and during the Summer to put him in private speech therapy so that he doesn't lose any ground during the time away from school. That's it, she said. Keep it up and call her if we need her again. Like I said to the perinatologist that I saw with Joy, "You've been a true pleasure to work with but I hope I never see you again."

Grin. No, really, I did. She smiled back as if to say, "That's not the first time I've ever heard that!"

We are processing everything she said and trying to let it sink in but we know this: God made Ty the way that He did on purpose and we now know it is our job to work even harder at figuring him out. Since there is not a diagnosis that he falls under and we are to treat him behaviorally like his siblings, we've got some work cut out for us. Well, us and all the other parents of three year-olds that we know :)

We are breathing a sigh of relief. We are grateful to have gotten in quicker than we should have to see this doctor that everyone recommended to us. And we are smitten with our boy.

What are you wearing these days?

I kind of miss going back to school. There's the vibe of new friends, seeing old friends, hoping for a student teacher, (now that I've been one I can see how we got away with what we did,) and wearing the clothes you got for Christmas.

I'm a long way from starting school. But since my son is starting his new preschool tomorrow I thought I'd devote a post to what we're wearing. Does this matter in the scheme of things? Oh heavens no. You know me better than to think all I do is meaningful.

I'll start with the kids. Mind you, it's only Ty that'll be going to school but the girls and I will be walking him back and forth so it counts to get dressed up. At least the first few weeks.

The girls got matching clothes from my SIL for Christmas and they look so rippin' cute. Here are their jeans and the shirts are already sold out but they're flannel hoodies with stripes on them. So cute. They also have some new shoes to kick around in. I found Joy some Robeez on sale at Nordstrom and I also found her a pair at Ross (oh my do they have good deals.) While she has hand-me-down shoes I feel bad letting her wear them now that she's scratching them up. Charlie has been skipping around in this skirt that was a Christmas gift from Mimi.

Ty got this shirt and we put him in it on days when he needs some extra zip. I'm pretty sure it's the only new article of clothing he got for Christmas. Ha! Boys vs. girls. See who gets more clothes? And who CARES about more clothes? It starts early!

On Christmas Eve Mom and I went to the mall for no reason (??????) and ended up hitting the sale rack at Gap. I found this shirt and couldn't justify buying it-it's silk and not exactly practical right now for many many reasons-but Mom said I could get it for Christmas.

Done. I wore it today and really liked it. It was much cheaper in the store ($22 I think,) than online and I don't know why there's a 30 dollar difference. Hmmm. Glad I found it when I did.

Anyway.

So there are a few new shirts that I love and they are all worn with my best find of 2009: a denim skirt with cute buttons from Anthropologie for get this: $9.99. The sale room is the only place I ever go in Anthropologie and it's because of finds like the beloved skirt of 2009. According to the gal helping me, it "Well, it is from last season..." and that's why it was so cheap. To which I replied, "Ask me if I care." She didn't. I think she didn't approve of my lack of current fashion sense and for that I will never apologize. I said, "Ask me if I care" in a funny way and wanted to clarify in case you think I'm that rude to people.

Oh and my favorite thing that my hubby got me for Christmas is these shoes, and I've alternated those with my brown boots I've had for a few years. The shoes may look a little grandma-ish (no offense anyone,) but in person Emmy has given me the seal of approval. Mary Janes that you can wear all day every day without an ounce of discomfort. Really, I should know. I wear tights every day. Why didn't I know about tights before now? They are great. You can wear a dress or skirt and never get cold. You can wear a dress or skirt even when you stay at your house all day because you never know when you might want to look nice for your three small children, all of whom couldn't care less what you wear. It's all about the mindset of Momma and Momma is happy wearing tights.

Oh and you can get good tights (in questionable colors/patterns sometimes but that's part of the fun,) at Ross, TJ Maxx, and Marshalls. Did I tell you we have all three within a mile radius where I live? There's really no need to leave that mile radius, is there? I think not.

So here is my question: what are you wearing right now that you love? What has become your "uniform?"

I think I'm done.

Yep, I'm done. Happy first day of school tomorrow everybody.