Projects galore

I'm finally taking the time to write about a few projects that the girls and I have been working on.

#1 When I was went back east last October my girlfriends and I went in the cutest shop ever called Nesting in Concord, Mass. I wanted to buy everything there but settled on some prints of some birds. They are pages torn from an old bird identification book and then somebody put gray cardboard behind them. I noticed the blue of the sky in the picture and it reminded me of the walls of my bedroom. So when I got home I punched a couple of holes in the top and strung some blue velvet ribbon through it. Inserted some small hooks on my walls and now I can enjoy these cuties all the time.


# 2 While I was in California a couple weeks ago my mom helped the girls make bags out of a placemat. Here is a picture of Makenzie's that has a zipper and a picture of Heidi with hers. I couldn't find Emma's.

# 3 I made a decision about a 8 weeks ago that I hadn't been doing a great job of teaching my girls how to cook. I mean, let's face it, it's a whole lot easier to just do it ourselves, right? Makenzie could make a couple of things but her repertoire was limited. I've been feeling overwhelmed in the afternoon/evening around 4-5 pm because my deadline for turning in my work for the day is 5pm. And sometimes I don't get things done by the deadline and I find myself at 6pm just finishing up and wondering how I'm going to make dinner, get everyone fed and get in bed by their bedtimes. I decided it was time my girls take some of the cooking responsibility. So now they are each responsible for one night a week. They decide what they are going to make, make me a grocery list and I buy the stuff. At first they needed quite a bit of help from me. But I have really been amazed at how quickly they have learned basic recipe reading skills. I really should have been better at taking pictures of some of their meals. The first meal that Makenzie made from beginning to end without any help from me whatsoever was bacon wrapped chicken (Thanks to Beehives, Rachael) salad and rolls. It was soo good and we all decided we would love to have it again. Makenzie also made these yummy s'mores treats for the funeral on Saturday. They were really good and a sign that they were good was that I think I saw everyone's plate with one and they were completely gone even though there were literally 30 desserts to choose from.

Emma made a meatloaf a few nights ago. She did it all by herself. The recipe said to put the ketchup in the bottom of the pan. She didn't see that part and put it in the bowl with everything else. She was upset by her mistake but I assured her it didn't matter because it's Meatloaf and with Meatloaf you can throw anything in there and it won't make that big of a difference. It turned out great! Not bad for a 10 year old. Tonight she made this dessert, a Banana Split cake that she found in a book. She was more proud of this accomplishment than the meatloaf I think!
Heidi cooks one night a week too. She makes simple things like sandwiches, Ramen with lots of veggies, scrambled eggs and toast and her older sisters help her. As their skills increase it has been a win-win situation. I have help in an area where I desperately need it and their confidence and skills are increasing. I'm loving it!

#4 Since I started my transcription job last September I am on our home computer a lot. What was once a place to do homework, email friends, and do our finances had become my work station. I had taken it over. The girls would beg me to let them play Club Penguin or get on Itunes and I was constantly saying "when I'm done with work." And if they weren't begging me to use the computer then they were watching TV or playing loudly and I would have to beg them to "Please be quiet" (insert yelling voice there). The situation was not working. So Chris and I talked it over and decided that it would be better for the whole family if I had my own computer just for work and in an area of the house that would be more quiet. So that, my friends, led to this:

The first thing I did was find a desk on Craig's List. I got lucky and found one for $15. I sanded it, painted it chocolate brown with pale pink and inserted a new drawer knob. I haven't found ones I like for the other drawers yet. I found some place mats that I really liked at Anthropologie and they went on top of the desk to keep things from scratching the surface.

I really wanted a Mac computer but Chris was able to get a much better deal on one through work if we went with a Dell. I found a (PRODUCT) RED laptop and I was sold. Not only is it great looking but the sale of that computer provides 6 months of lifesaving medication for someone with AIDS in Africa. Chris hooked it up to a regular size monitor and keyboard and now I have my work station. As well as a laptop to take with me when I travel so I can blog! How great is that? Chris attached a docking port to the back of the desk so that all the wires can be plugged in there and they are out of sight. We love that don't we ladies? And next he is going to build something on the right side of the desk so that my laptop will slide into it and stay there while I'm working on my larger monitor. He is definitely earning a lot of brownie points right now, or other points. : )

I shouldn't have blogged all at once about this stuff. It looks like I'm this domestic Diva or something. I really am not. I just let 6 months of stuff build up until I finally blogged about it!