Friday's Confession

I'm a stay at home mom and wife.  And yet...I am a terrible housekeeper.  Alright, that's not true exactly.  I can keep my house sort of clean.  Laundry, Vacuuming, dishes...you know...the basics.  However, I have a terrible time with organization, keeping toys off my floor, beds made, counters uncluttered...

I grew up in a messy household.  Very messy, and I really won't go into details, but let me assure you, it was bad.  If CPS ever saw it, I probably would've grown up in a foster home (actually, CPS WAS called once, and they gave my mom a chance to "clean" up.  She did, and they left it at that.  Good thing they never returned though.)  So I never had a real good role model.

Once on my own, I think I did a pretty good job.  Sure, I got lazy at times, and let's not talk about paper clutter and book clutter.  But my place was always neat.  Now with the kids, I feel like pulling out my hair, and just throwing away everything I own, just to keep it clean.  Now to be fair, right now I still have no place to put things, and Liam is still in this "let's dump all the toys I find on the floor, rip up papers and books, and remove our clothes, piece by piece and leave it in the middle of the floor of each room."  I really do need my shelves up in my living room.  And to make remodel my kitchen.  And organize my bedroom.  I really do need a filing cabinet...

I just seem to lack this ability to understand how people have kids and keep their houses spotless, or even just clean and uncluttered.  I feel like I never have time to clean, and I'm home 24/7.  For awhile, I was in the swing of things, having my own little routine that started with making beds, and ended at the end of the night with a quick pick up of toys, clothes and anything left on the floor.  I haven't gotten back into that routine, and now with both kids rooms being disaster areas...I'll just shake my head.

So there you have it.  I could win the award for worst housewife in the Central NY area.

Zinc, Ginger and Garlic

Whenever I start thinking I'm coming down with a cold, I try to fight back as soon as possible, usually with fluids, zinc (hello Zicam!) and fresh Ginger tea.

I love this tea pot.

I start with some freshly grated ginger, usually about a 1 inch piece.  Sprinkle on some paprika, or in my case today, some Cayenne Pepper, a little bit of honey (I used brown sugar today, as I lacked honey)  and some lemon juice.  I use my IngenuiTea tea pot, but you can easily use a tea ball, or even a mesh herb bag.  Pour some boiling water and let steep.  I usually aim for 10 minutes, though the longer it steeps, the stronger it gets.  Be warned, it has kick.  I made mine extra strong today, and it burned like hell going down.  But for the next four hours, I felt decent again.  My throat wasn't sore, my head wasn't stuffy, and my sinuses didn't feel like they were being pounded on by a microscopic sledgehammer.  So even if it doesn't help me fight this cold off, at least it made me feel wonderful.

Of course, I feel extra desperate to avoid coming down with a cold, so I took the extra step of eating a clove of raw garlic.  Can I be honest here?  That was nasty.  Very.  Very.  Nasty.

Wordless Wednesday

Weather Hate

The thermometer in my house

Today, it rained.  And I found myself welcoming the change, while chanting to myself "Melt Snow Melt". Of course, it couldn't all melt in one day.  But this is why I hate winter.

It was 45 today.

It is now, less than 5 hours later, 27, with an expected low of 5 degrees.  WTF.  I hate, more than any other aspect of winter, temperature differences of 40 degrees.  Blah!

We're also in store of some major winds.  Hopefully it won't keep my up too late.

Pasta Night!

They say when you're a mom, you don't get sick days.  Well, luckily today was Sunday and for the most part, I did get a sick day.  I'm pretty blessed to have an awesome husband who took care of the kids for most of the day.  And like I said, pretty lucky that it was Sunday.  (Please be better by tomorrow.)

Growing up, I never had any sort of ritual meal deal, which seems the opposite of John.  His family had pizza night, take out night, and spaghetti on Sunday, which as far as I understand, consisted of his mom making a fresh batch of sauce each week.  Now we have pizza night each week with John's dad, which I think the kids enjoy, mostly because they love their Grandpa, and they love Pizza.  Me...eh, I could do without the same pizza week after week after week, but I admit to enjoying watching the kids play with their Grandpa.

I made Spaghetti sauce today, for the first time in a long time.  I had gotten good about making sauce and keeping it stocked in the freezer.  When we moved, I got lazy, and started buying the jarred stuff again.  While I'm not a "omg the jar stuff is so bad tasting" type of person (personally, I love Classico), I'll do admit to home made being superior.  I actually had a moment of "oh wow, I forgot how good my sauce is" moment.  I also had a "hmm, I need some home made pasta" moment, but that's a whole other post.

I think I'm going to try from now on to keep making my own sauce, and maybe even making Sundays our "pasta night."  Now if I could also start making a "sushi night", "chocolate cake night" and "surf and turf night".

Friday's Confession

I am not one of those people that can keep their furniture in one spot year after year.  I don't know what it is, but I find it dull and mundane, and I just can't do it.  I've gotten better...sort of.  Instead of moving my furniture around 3-4 times a year like I used to, I only move it once, maybe twice a year.

I'm actually sitting here, right now, in a misplaced chaise lounger.  I moved all my furniture so I could strip wall paper, and scrub the walls.  Worked out well- 90% of the walls on one side of the room are done.  The only part not done are the tops that I can't reach and totally lazed out about.  I'll save them for another day.

So the furniture is all moved and it starts.  That twitch...that...random thought...what would the TV look like over there.  So it begins.  I start moving stuff around.  Usually not even know if it will fit, look good or work.  Like today.  See...our place is so much smaller than the last place we had.  The place we bought quite large furniture for.  Fixtures in the house are place in odd random places.  A heat vent in a corner that would be PERFECT for the chaise lounger.  A protruding wall where the linen closet is on the other side of the wall.  The bottom step of the stairs is larger than the rest of the steps, to give it that open grandiose look...but prevents anything too big from being against that wall.

John finds it funny when I do stuff like this, or so he tells me (I always do it when he's at work, always thinking "Just wait until you get home, buddy!!").  Moving furniture = moving EVERYTHING.  My TV stand is completely empty, the TV, the stereo, the consoles, the cable box...all unplugged, no wires attached, no speakers attached...all sitting in a pile on my sofa awaiting a wipe down and to be organized and put back together (which I usually can't do myself, unsure of what settings and arrangement he likes...)  It gives him a job to do when he gets home, which I guess is sort of mean of me.

So here I am...trying to piece together my living room again, just trying to find that perfect look.  I guess in my head, I hope to find that one look that I could live with for a longer period of time.  A part of me always feels silly for this little impulse thing I do.  A part of me adores it though, welcoming the change. If I get it right, of course.

Have I mentioned that my walls look fantastic by the way?  Despite not being painted, just being some strange beige-pink color, uneven and bare...it's so much better than that wall paper.

Crunchy Granola...why do I feel like I just stereotyped myself?

Ok, let's avoid the jokes here, we all know I'm a bit crunchy granola.  I've been cooking a ton the last few days.  I think it's the winter weather, and a desire to stay active, while seeking out warm, delicious comfort foods.  But there was also my plan to make stuff that we normally buy, based on this post.  I sort of cheated, in that I don't actually buy granola bars that often.  But I was looking into snacks to make the kids, and replace some of the stuff I buy them.

So far I've tried two different recipes.  The first one I did, from sparkpeople, wasn't a complete success.  I switched up the honey to Agave nectar, since I'm was trying to lower the glycemic index a little, but in the end, the granola was far too sweet, sticky, and fell apart really easily.  More like Granola, no bar.  It wasn't bad, in fact, Lilia really liked it, declaring it "The best cookie ever!"

The second one was the allrecipes playground Granola bars recipe.  I have to say, this one was a bit tastier.  Again, I switched up honey for Agave.  I reduced the flour, and added flaxseed meal, and added dried fruit instead of just raisins.  It wasn't too sweet, it was perfect.  When I make them again, I think I will reduce the cooking time though- they are just a tad hard around the edges, with a slight burnt taste.  But they are very chewy, which I like. The only complaint I have is that it's more a cookie consistency than a granola bar.  Ah well, who doesn't like cookies, right?  Both kids seem to like them, as do John and I.  In fact, I think we like them a little too much, as I have to fight the urge to constantly eat them.

I think next month I will do graham crackers.   And I have to say, it's hard to limit myself to one thing each month.  I was ready to jump in and make a million different things!