I'm sure no one else ever does this.


(source)

Something needs put away, but it never really gets to its destination.  For several months you come across it now and again, and for about 1/2 a second the thought passes through your head that at some point you're going to wish you had put it away.  But you still don't do it.

Then the day comes.  Your son comes in and asks why you never transferred his religious knot patch from his Cub Scout shirt to his Boy Scout shirt. 

"I did," I say.
"No you didn't," he said.
"Oh, I made you do it," I tell him.
"No I didn't,"  he says.
"Here, look'"  he shows me.

"Oops. Sorry.  I'll do it right now.  Let me grab the..................where is that baggie of patches that I took off the Cub Scout shirt FIVE months ago?!"

So I head for my three main "stash & dash" locations. 
And today I've decided to come clean, and let everyone see these very secret spots in my home. 
This is when I remember that when you have to dig around cluttered spaces it usually takes making an even bigger mess to clean the original mess.
On the up-side, you can find some other "lost" items that you didn't even know were lost and you find stuff that you didn't know you even had. 

For example:

 

Don't you love junk drawers?  You can find most anything in one. 

Except for the religious knot badge I was looking for....grrrr.

It is almost like being at that game show from the 70's that I used to love to watch,

Lets Make A Deal.  I loved that show.  Did anyone else love that show?

(Yes, I know it is on again, but it isn't the same and I don't love it.)

 

Here are a few interesting things I found.  A dinosaur shaped sandwich cutter.  Didn't know we even had one, nor have I ever used it.  Tossed it in the garbage.  Seed packets, zit medication, glue of various types, and lots of shoelaces.  But this is the grossest thing I found.  I even used sticks to pick it up with.

 

Someone's mouth guard.  You got to see it right before it landed in the trash. 
Lots of stuff landed in the trash, or got put where they should have been in the first place, and now the drawers look like this.

Ahh, so much better.

 

 

The messy, top, left hand cupboard. Yep, that is usually what I call it when I need someone to get in there for me.  I was amazed at how many types of thank you cards I have.  I didn't think I had any so I kept buying them, I guess.  Another reason to clean up your clutter.  You will save money because you don't rebuy things that you already have.  um hum.

 

No, I didn't find the patches here either, but I did find items from the scouting community, so I'm feeling a little bit more confident.  I found lots of water balloons.  We love water balloons at our house and I'm still wondering why the Bear scarf is in here.  We haven't had a Bear in our house for over three years.  Probably because of the same reason I'm looking for the baggie of patches, right?  And there is my labeler.  It wasn't lost though.  I use that guy a lot and so I did know where to go for that.

And now it is a nice clean, top, left handed cupboard.
Yea!

Before I started on this one last location I scanned the top of my dresser, a drawer in my dresser, my jewelry box, and a drawer in the laundry room. Guess I just wanted a change in scenery.  And I may have gotten a little side-tracked while putting away other things I found. 

At this point I was getting a little worried that I wasn't going to find the baggie.  I really didn't want to pull everything out of here.  You can see pumpkins that got shoved there after Thanksgiving.  Lots of cookbooks.  The blue tape that I couldn't find so I bought another roll!  (You can see the second tape purchase up in the drawer picture)  arggggg  Remember the saving money thing I mentioned earlier? 

Robin socks.  I'm pretty sure this is the last place I would have looked for them next time Mitch wanted to wear them.  They are pretty cute when they are on.  With their little cape in the back.  Mitch's friend has Batman ones and they wore them to school (while wearing shorts) on Super Hero day for spirit week.

Mitch's athletic pants that we searched the house for on Saturday.  Mitch's again....hum, starting to see a theme here.  I'm not even asking why he has clothing shoved in this cabinet.

Why our wedding album was in there, I will never know.  I did take a snap shot of a darling picture of Marcee (5) & Geri (4).  So sweet.

And guess what.  SUCCESS!  and clean drawers, cupboards, and cabinets.  Maybe my bad habit isn't 100% bad.  This way these secret little areas get a good cleaning every couple of years.




Now, to find the thread box.  humm

A Tisket, A Tasket

We found this darling food hamper by our front door this morning.

(A hamper is a British word for a wicker basket.  Yes, I watched Downton last night.)

 

I had to go get some dog food and milk this morning.

What?  You did too?  Weird.

When I returned home I saw this cute basket sitting on the porch.

 

I asked Mitch to go out and see what it was.

Then I hear, "You have got to be kidding".

 

 

This is what we found. 

A nice breakfast and three handmade cards

from three young girls.

 

Card #1 - a girl that professes her undying love for Mitch.  With lots of flowers and hearts and young love fluff written all over the card.

Card #2 - a girl that says "hi" and that she is just helping girl #1 and hoped that he enjoyed the breakfast they made for him. (this is the only girl I really do know, and yes, I like her)

Card #3 - a girl that only says, "I poisoned your breakfast!"

 

I think I love girl #3.

 

 

They brought him a bowl of sausage & biscuits and gravy, two red velvet pancakes, two fried eggs, and three slices of bacon. 

They did a very nice job.  As a person that cooks a lot, I dug in to see how well they cook.

The eggs were perfectly done over-easy.

The bacon was cooked to perfection.  NO kidding. 

The pancakes and biscuits & gravy were as good as any I've ever seen.

I was impressed by these 12 year old's cooking skills.

 

The only problem? 

We didn't notice they had droopped it off for sometime, apparently.  It was only 13° F when we got up and when we found the hamper all of the food was frozen solid. 

Never fear.  Frozen food doesn't scare us.

 

What does scare me is that girls are already starting to bring Mitch food.

I know about girls that make boys food.

I used to be one of them.



Sunday Afternoon Snack Attack

My short story of sopaipillas.

 

 

They will turn your frown upside down, any day.

 

 

Last Thursday I made some roll dough.  I wanted to take some cinnamon rolls to a friend for Valentine's Day and have fresh rolls with our dinner.

Well, half way though preparing the dough I decided that I was sick.

Too sick to finish, even.

So, I got a pan of rolls ready to cook for dinner and put the rest of the dough in the fridge to finish the next day.

 

Well, I didn't really function the next day.  Or the next.

 

 

 

So on Sunday afternoon I went to get another glass of grape juice and there was that dough.  Still waiting for me to return.

 

In my book, three days is about all I give uncooked yeast dough.  I don't like the smell and taste after that.  Seems kind of fermented, or something.  Anyone else agree?

 

Anyway, I hate, hate, hate wasting food.

Rolls (in any form) didn't sound good at all.

 

BUT sopaipillas, or fry bread, sure did.

 

 

It made a very nice, quick Sunday afternoon snack.

(and very happy kids)

Layne is out of town so we sent him a picture via cell phone just to make him jealous.  He was.

 

 

Yes, after living away from Idaho & Utah for nearly 20 years I no longer call them scones, unless I am in Idaho or Utah. Why?  Because that is the only place they call fried yeast dough, scones. Otherwise you'll get a lot of questioning looks.  BUT if you say sopaipillas or fry bread they know exactly what you're talking about.  So there you have it.  Now you'll never look stupid if you aren't in Idaho or Utah. I've got your back.

XOXO XOXO

♥ I've never been one to decorate for Valentine's Day.♥

 

Valentine's Day is one of those 'sub-holidays' for me.

Thrown in there just cause we are sick of winter. 

 

But this year I had a special

Activity Day Girls Recognition Breakfast

at my house with my little ADGirls & their moms.

It was so much fun.

So, I wanted to make the house seem a little festive.

 

What?  You want to know our menu?

 

Cheesy Scrambled Eggs

Bacon

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Squares

Raspberry Cream Danish

Blueberry-Lemon Crepes

Buttered Toast

Orange Juice & Milk

 

The presentation looked so pretty and everything tasted so yummy.  (Why I didn't take even one picture of the whole occasion baffles me.)  A big thanks to Josie for helping me out there at the end when I didn't think I'd be able to pull it altogether before the guests arrived.

 

♥ I always get sidetracked when I start talking about parties and cooking. ♥

 

ANYWAY

 

I just couldn't wrap my head around the whole V-Day decorations.  I don't know why. 

Two of my very favorite colors are pink & red, and who doesn't like hearts?

Yet, I honestly don't own any V decor and I didn't have the desire to shop for any.

 Then it occurred to me that I love flowers and ribbon.
Just the level of commitment I was looking for.
Those two things can change the look in any room of the house, really cheap and really fast.

 

 

 

I love how it all turned out.  Just enough to make it special.

Happy Valentine's Day!!

 

 

 

One more thing I wanted to share:

A few months ago I found this awesome cutting board in a pile of clearance items at Target.

I love my USA cutting board.  The edge is painted in navy blue.  So cute.

So we found some heart stickers in the cupboard and put a ♥ on our two "home" states

Idaho & Ohio

and we also have sisters (and their families) that live in North Carolina and Arizona.

So we put hearts on their states too.

 

 

 

♥

 

 

Do you decorate for Valentine's Day?

Do you go all out, or just a little here and there?

Better late than never.

+

What is funnier than watching a bunch of eight year olds that haven't ever been roller-skating?

 

 

Maybe a few things, but this rates right up there.

 

Yes, no judging. 

Justin had his 8th birthday party today...3 1/2 months after his birthday.

 

Hey, we've been busy!

 

Justin, going down again.  Mitch trying to give pointers.

 

Careful buddy.

 

Getting ready for cake & ice cream.

 

This was funny. 

Until the kids started coming to the house, he didn't realize he'd be getting gifts today. 

 He got so excited. 

 

He had so much fun.  We don't usually have 'friend birthday parties', but they do get one when they turn eight.  So this was a treat.  All the little boys that came had a lot of fun and were such good sports to try something new.  We were there for two hours and it was amazing how much improvement they made in such a short amount time.

 

We never think to go roller-skating. 

Maybe we'll try to remember to go a few more times this year.

Do any of you go roller-skating?

 

It was a fun day.

 

 

 

This is just a random picture of the sunset the other night.  I was making dinner and looked out the window and loved what I saw. 

Thought I'd share.

 



Mind games

Right now I'm:

 

*Singing at the top of my lungs with Whitney Houston.  Pandora is rocken out the best music this morning!

 

*Thinking about a note I have thought to write and mail since Monday.

 

*Wondering how my Grandma is feeling this morning after her surgery.

 

*Listening for the dryer to stop so I can reboot the machines.  Will the laundry ever end? Scratch that.  I'm glad that we live a good life.  I guess I'd rather say, Will I ever catch up?

*Looking at the return air vent in the office and wondering why I never take the one minute it would take to vacuum the dust (and 'ahem' cobwebs) off of it.  ......  there, done.  Guess I just needed to say it out loud.  Ü

 

*Checking this weeks menu and see what needs to go on the grocery list.

 

*Back to thinking about the laundry.

 

*Getting plans ready for music in Primary.

 

*Wondering, did I get my scriptures read this morning?  I don't remember doing it.  Come on guys, I don't even remember what I packed Layne for lunch, for heavens sake!!  I'd better fit that in. 

 

*Deciding if I want to run errands now when it is 13°F or wait till this afternoon when it is 15°F.  (Lets be honest. That really reads,  I'm not running any errands today.)

 

*Going to empty the dishwasher and clean up the kitchen because life is just better when the kitchen is cleaned up. 

 

Have a great day.  

 

(source)

Wouldn't it be the coolest if Layne saw this on my blog and wanted to make it to store our food from the garden this fall?  Ya, I think it would be cool too.  Ü