Out With The Old, In With The New

We have decided to dive right into our first home project of the year. Gutting out our main bathroom from ceiling to floor, wall to wall.

We have no idea what we are getting ourselves into… we’ve done some research but we are clueless on how this is all going to shake out. We ideally want to get it completed over the next few weeks but we’ll see how it goes.

So first up… taking off this wonderful (insert sarcasm) wallpaper that had been painted over. I am supervisor on this project, lucky for me, Aaron’s friend Mark lives close to us and is at our house quite often so he has been a big help to Aaron.

What was accomplished this past weekend: taking off the wallpaper, scraping down the walls with a solution to remove wall paper glue, ripping out the vanity, removing fixtures, patching holes left behind by fixtures (towel warmer left a hole in which we also had to properly cap off the electrical ends), Mark getting excited and removing flooring and tub tile before he was given permission (I stopped him before he got too far), installing shut off valves for under the sink, posting bathroom stuff on craigslist, 2 large pizzas ate, the boys about losing their lunch after finding a very large hair ball stuck in the drain (I’m not claiming that hair ball, that was a decade worth of hair!), fire alarms going off because of the dust causing me to dust/vacuum the house multiple times, and of course numerous trips back and forth to Lowe’s. What a crazy weekend!

Overall, I think there was good progress made. Next up is mudding the walls and removing the old tub. I’ll post another bathroom update next week and just keeping my fingers cross that this goes smoothly and I will have a new bathroom sooner than later!




Before any demo work

 

Cannot wait for all of this to go!





Bye Bye Wall Paper!

Nice one, works best to get a BIG piece started



Wall Paper GONE



Lots of glue left behind to be removed

This is where Mark got excited and started on the tub

And the floor... not quite ready to remove floor yet!

Vanity GONE

A Dinner Life Saver!

I am SO excited about a new product on the shelves that will spruce up my dinner options… Philadelphia Cooking Cream. What a great idea! There are a lot of $1 off and $1.50 off coupons floating around online and in stores so that makes it even more awesome. So many great recipes ideas, I’m going to very busy trying many of them. Here is a website that lists all the recipes you can make:

http://www.kraftbrands.com/philly/recipes/cooking-creme/Pages/all-flavors.aspx

I especially like the toolbar on the side of this website where you can narrow it down based on your preferences. So easy to use! I love you kraft.com, you are my best cyber friend.

Last week I tried the Easy Chicken Enchiladas:

http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/Easy-Chicken-Enchiladas-121713.aspx?pf=true

Delicious! Easy yes… but I tend to prefer something just a bit more easier to whip up. I usually shy away from any recipe that requires the use of the stove top and oven, that just sounds like a lot of clean up in the end.  I see there is a Santa Fe Chicken Casserole that looks slightly easier to prep and very close to the enchiladas recipe so I’m all about trying that version very soon.

Check out the tomato basil pizza recipe… I can barely wait to try that one!!

I bought each cooking flavor this weekend. I did buy several of the Santa Fe since we love Mexican inspired foods.

You should give it a try, it’s one of my new favorite products and I’m diggin’ it.

What The Heck!

This is what I woke up to this morning....  Where did all this 'white stuff' come from??? Very pretty for December maybe but not March/almost April!  UGG!  I was all ready to start getting my deck furniture out and put away my winter sweaters but guess not...

Your Thoughts Are Showing

Spring is FINALLY here!  I'm finally getting a sense of relief from my winter blues, I love so much the warmer temps that are creeping back in.  This time of year always gives me a sense of motivation.  I start to think about what I can accomplish over the summer.  This time of the year I also feel like I have a second shot at my already failed new year resolutions.  

My Small Group just began reading The 4:8 Principle by Tommy Newberry.  I think it is fitting to share some excerpts from this book to boost joy and motivation.  This book focuses on the Bible verse Phillipians 4:8 to change your mindset to a joyful way of thinking which will in turn permenate all aspects of your life.  I really could use some positivity in my life after my winter blues!  Time to 'spring clean' my way of thinking.  Thoughts that feel warm and good to the soul and radiate positivity is where I really need to spend my time focusing on.  Here are are some passages straight from the book that have really stood out to me:

Mental discipline is the ability to keep your thoughts consistently focused.

....every thought moves you either toward your God-given potential or away from it.  No thoughts are neutral. 

In Job 3:25, we are warned that the things we intensely fear have a tendency to become reality.

Many people use 'to-do' lists to clarify their priorities and guide them through the day.  This is obviously a wise strategy, but even more important is a 'to-think' list. 

But even in the valleys, there will always be something working really well in your life; and even on the mountain peaks, everything will not be perfect.

This is one of my favorite lines from the book:
Each moment is a new beginning.  Your future is not defined by your past.

... remind yourself that negative thoughts do not come from God.  God is positive to everything but sin.  If a thought brings about worry, fear, or fatigue, it is not from God. 

This is another one of my favorites:
Productive thinking and destructive thinking are both merely habits. 

Life is too short to be negative!

Everything you need to be joy-filled, you already have!

Whatever you give your attention to will be elevated in your consciousness.

Wow, this one was a reality check for me:  
Remember that dwelling on your problems doesn't fix them; it just makes you an expert on them. 

How true this one is:
....we live in a society bent on highlighting what is wrong with just about everything... A 70% chance of sunshine is expressed as a 30% change of rain. 

This is what I strive for:
The happiness which brings enduring worth to life is not the superficial happiness that is dependent on circumstances.  It is the happiness and contentment that fills the soul even in the midst of the most distressing circumstances and the most bitter environment.  It is the kind of happiness that grins when things go wrong and smiles through tears.  The happiness for which our souls ache is one undistrubed by success or failure, one which will root deeply inside us and give inward relaxation, peace, and contentment, no matter what the surface problems may be.  That kind of happiness stands in need of not outward stimulus.  -- Billy Graham

And of course, the whole basis of the book:
Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy - meditate on these things -- Phillippians 4:8 (NKJV)

I'm only on Chapter 3, but this book does give some great insights! 

http://the48principle.com/

Humorous or Just Ridiculous?

A few weeks ago, Aaron, myself and a few of his friends ventured up to Minneapolis for the weekend. I met up with some girlfriends once we got there but overall a lot of my day time was spent with the guys while my friend had to work... here is a peak of what I mean...

So... what happens when you take a bunch of guys with you to IKEA?

This pretty much sums up how Craig felt about shopping... Going to IKEA and the Mall of America was supposedly one of the most painful days of his life.

This video below displays their maturity level when they get together:

Now pay particular attention to the first few seconds of the video. Craig was not trying to look like he was in a daze on purpose. That has got to be the funniest part of the entire video is his blank expression for the first 10 seconds of this video! We all have died laughing from watching that part over and over.

Mark decided to freak people out by wearing a rug around the store as if it was a fur coat:

And last but not least... a video of IKEA Olympic Curling. If you haven't picked up on this yet, they were impressed with the engineering of the IKEA carts.

So glad I'm not from Minneapolis where someone could have recognized me!! I couldn't help but laugh at their stupidity. My shopping could have been far more productive if I would have went by myself instead of bringing 4 monkeys with me but I'd have to admit the humor kept it interesting. They took the video, not me. I'm kind of glad they did though because I find it much funnier now then at the time.

Product Reviews

I was at Super Target the other day, one of my favorite places to roam around and I do almost all of my grocery shopping there and came across a lot of new products I decided to try and review.  My reviews are from 1-10, 10 being the highest. 

Dean's Lite French Onion Dip. Okay, so you are probably wondering why I am reviewing French Onion Dip.  What caught my eye about it is that it's Lite.  I've tried fat free and it is gross.  I was very interersted in the lite version because I can seriously eat a whole bag of Ruffles and dip in nearly one sitting.  This one is okay and much healthier but I do plan to go back to the good ol' AE fatty french onion dip with my occasional ruffle binge.  Overall Rating: 6.

I came across in the frozen section Amy's Bowl products.  We tried Country Cheddar and Mexican Casserole.  The Mexican Casserole is gluten free.  It was a little bland but Aaron scoop it into corn tortillas and added a little cheese and he really liked it.  The country cheddar bowl was very good.  Note, it does have tofu in it, which didn't bother me, I like tofu; all the ingredients taste of high quality and were organic.  The only downside is these take an hour to cook, I'm going to microwave them next time and see if they are just as good.  Overall rating: 9.  Will buy again and Amy's has a bunch of different frozen products so interested in trying some more!

Skinny Cow products are freakin amazing!  These fudge pops are 50 calories each, you can eat two and not feel guilty.  A winner and the taste is so good you would not believe these are low fat.  Overall Rating: 10.  Defintely never buying any other fudge pops but these. 

And by the way, Skinny Cow Ice Cream sandwiches are amazing too!  140 calories, 1.5 grams of fat, I can barely finish one they are so big...is this for real?!?!  Yes and will never again buy any other ice cream sandwiches.   So impressed with Skinny Cow, they are super tasty!  The ice cream sandwiches actually comes in a lot of different flavors, can't wait to try some new flavors!

Archer Farms Grilled Vegetable Burrito.  These burritos are gross.  Overall Rating: 0.  Never will buy again.

Annie's Gluten Free Macaroni and Cheese.  Not exactly like Kraft but not bad.  I liked it, Aaron loved it.  I was impressed with the noodles, many gluten free noodles become mushy when boiling and these didn't.  Just as easy to cook as a box of Kraft which is always a big plus for me.  Overall Rating: 8.  Would buy again.

Fiber One Frozen Muffins.  I love Fiber One products so it was a no brainer for me to try the frozen muffins.  So what is Fiber One's logo... 'cardboard no, delicious yes.'   They got their logo wrong on this one... delicious no, cardboard yes.  They aren't horrible but the top of the muffin or muffin top (I don't know if I have ever used this phrase in the proper terms :)  is what tasted like cardboard.  Overall Rating: 4.  Will not buy again.

Archer Farms Chicken Black Bean Burrito.  Gross Gross Gross.  Never buy again.  Overall Rating: 0

So why I am reviewing cookies that have been around forever?  Because they are 120 calorie packs so I am reviewing based on if these packs are enough to satisfy for a snack or a supplement to a lunch.  And yes they are.  I completely forgot how good the old fashion animal cookies are, I feel like a kid biting off the head of my zebra cookie.  Overall Rating: 8.  Will buy again.

Yep, my life is pretty boring, this is all I have to blog about!  :)

Taco Bell vs. Fruit Kabobs

This past Sunday, Aaron and I were relaxing after returning from a busy weekend out of town and in the middle of the afternoon, he asks me if we can go to Taco Bell for a snack.  You know you have a problem when you think of Taco Bell as a snack!  I'd be lying if I'd say I wasn't feeling like having a few crunchy tacos myself at 3pm on a Sunday afternoon but decided to be strong headed and refuse Aaron his Taco Bell.  Instead, I decided to whip up a special treat.  Something I saw on the Food Network recently that Giada had my full attention on.  Fruit Kabobs!

Pinapple, strawberries, grapes, bananas, melted chocolate drizzed on top and some crushed walnuts & pecans sprinkled to finish. Set in fridge for a few minutes and this beats the socks off of Taco Bell!  I normally would never go to this much work for a snack but Giada had me motivated to make some fruit kabobs and then my husband further motivated me to prove we can do better than Taco Bell for an afternoon snack!