Mostly Odds, And Some Ends

So, I haven't updated since "Free Range Chicken" day. It was, to say the least, delicious! I roasted it in the oven with some herbs and lemon, potatoes and carrots. We ate it for days! Right after that meal, I took all of the chicken off the bones and stored it in the fridge. I made a broth that night. We had sandwiches, I made a Thai soup, the kids had it in their lunches, plus the main meal. I also made a casserole. There is no way in heck a grocery store chicken, which contains a lot of water to increase the weight and therefore price, goes that far. It was definitely worth the cost, to me. I'd think buying a few in bulk would be more price effective, so I have to get on that. Really, it was more like buying a turkey. I didn't take any pictures, however. D'oh! I keep forgetting to do that and adding them to the blog. I guess I haven't come out of the "privacy" and "creepy people looking at my stuff" phase of blogging. I'll get there!

On Sunday, I headed out into the rain to meet a bunch of new friends for brunch at Cora's. I ordered the "Good Morning" breakfast with two poached eggs and whole wheat toast. It comes with 4 slices of bacon and home fries. I drank tea and water, ate my eggs and one piece of toast, and two of the bacon pieces. I did good! We then headed to Starbucks for more chatting and laughing and I indulged in my current addiction-the Tall, Skinny, Caramel Macchiato. Dang that thing is delicious! I was so full that I didn't feel the need to eat again until dinner! Food aside, those women are all so great and I'm SO happy I met all of them. They are all bright, funny and interesting. It was an awesome start to a dreary day. The rest of the day was less fab, consisting of grocery getting and errand running. Boo, hiss!

Yesterday, my husband and I decided to tackle some things we've talked about but put off since moving into the house. He built me a large chalkboard for my kitchen. The idea isn't for the girls to colour (though they'd have you believe otherwise) but rather for me to write down the menu for the day, or inspirational quotes. I'm totally loving it!

We also took the kiddos to Home Depot on Sunday night and let them pick out their own paint colours for their bedrooms. My youngest picked a Disney pinky/purply colour (called something something....cloud) and my eldest picked a soft baby blue. I helped my husband do the cutting in and then he painted the walls afterwards. We only got my youngest's room finished and I put it all back together today. It looks FANTASTIC. We'll finish my eldest's room this weekend. My girls are at that age where they have SO many toys, but they don't want to get rid of anything for sentimental reasons. Let's not even talk about their Webkinz collections. It's difficult to manage all of the toys in an organized way and still have the room look decent! You know me and organization though! Love! So, they each have many bins in the colours of their rooms, and now have a hanging shelving system to contain some of those stuffed toys. There's still more "stuff" on surfaces than I'd like, but you know what? It's not my room.

I have to also say, I was struck yesterday by the fact that I'm pretty darn lucky to have a husband that is so handy and capable. He's pretty much awesome at building stuff, fixing stuff, painting etc. His family had a painting/fix-it business on the side while he was growing up, so he grew up doing all kinds of things. I, on the other hand, am the least handy person alive. I don't know how I'd do anything "home improvement" wise without him. Thanks hubs!

I will make this promise right now, so it's in writing and I can't forget! Once both girls rooms are complete-I'll post some pics on here for you all to see! Sounds like a plan! Now, just have to find a way to minimize any identifying features! HA!

I also picked up a bunch of little accessory type things for the powder room. We haven't really decorated much since we still plan on painting the whole ground and upper levels, but I figured why not. I got two pictures for a steal, a candle, towel and various other decorative pieces. It's starting to shape up around here!

Now that we've almost painted the girls rooms, I'm contemplating painting the rest of the rooms ourselves. We had talked about hiring painters but since I'm home-I think I could get a room done a day or so. What would likely happen would be I'd do cutting in and let my hubby do the rolling but ya know. Same idea. I have a bunch of other decorating ideas I'd like to tackle in various rooms, and front and back door painting, deck painting, deck building, shed buying, front step painting, flower planting.....Wow. My husband is going to be REALLY busy!!! I'm really, really good at supervising though. Really! Just ask him! He LOVES it.