so glad this month is OVER

It's been quite a month. Teaghan has been battling pneumonia, poor thing. She had what we thought was a routine cold. She had a fever, not terribly high but persistant and started having red, mucousy eyes. I called her ped and took her in and she was transported to the Children's ED by ambulance. She's definitely on the mend and even ate some Memorial Day steak and corn on the cob.
In other news... we had a nest in a bush in teh backyard that housed a family of cardinals. Mama and Daddy Cardinal had 3 eggs, 2 of which hatched. Teaghan and Cami have loved watching the babies grow. Last night Daddy lifted Campbell up to watch Mama Cardinal feed her babies but Teaghan was still feeling too sick to go out. She has asked about them every day since she's been sick and was looking forward to seeing them again. Then today something horrific happened. I was sitting in the dining room and heard quite a ruckus happening outside. I looked out the window and saw a group of chickadees divebombing the cardinal bush. Not realizing chickadees were predatory birds (ha!) I went outside to shoo them away. What I saw will stay with me for the rest of my life. It was that horrible.
There was a 3 foot black rat snake mid-snack on a baby cardinal. I shreiked, cried and carryed-on all the way up to Tony's office. I know he thought something horrible happened to one of our kids but I finally managed to get out the words snake and baby birds and he put it together. I won't give you all the gory details but after some shovel and rake work Tony managed to remove I(cough, cough) the snake and save one of the baby birds. We put it back in the nest but it isn't there now. I'm not sure what will happen to it. We are so sad.
I'm not sure how to break it to Teaghan. She loved those little birds so much. I've seen my little girl endure too much pain this week.

Tackle it Tuesday

Tackle it Tuesday



Last Saturday was our community yard sale. I worked Friday night but i did get a chance to walk around a little with Tony and the girls before I crashed for some much deserved sleep. We didn't find much.. a cute Gymboree dress for Teaghan, a few puzzles for the girls to share and a couple of cabinet organizers for me. So today, my Tackle is to get these cabinet organizers mounted and the cabinets a little less cluttered.

Before:






After:

stay tuned... gotta go VOTE!!

See more Tackles over here!

Menu Plan Monday

Well, we are back from a week at the beach. It was so incredibly wonderful and relaxing. Good meals, good fun. Our next trip is planned for next month. We will be off to the mountains for a visit with my parents and my nephew. I love the spring/summer months. We generally get away at least once a month.



But alas, it's back to real life. And I'm going to start off with Menu
Plan Monday. I worked all weekend so Tony and the girls subsisted mostly on pizza, mac and cheese and green beans. I think I should actually cook meals this week. But since I am still easing into real life we will start off slow.... ;)

Monday: spaghetti

Tuesday: chicken and rice with broccoli

Wednesday: beef and gravy with mashed potatoes, cauliflower

Thursday: leftovers

Friday: ribs, baked beans, fries

Saturday: homemade pizza

Sunday: since it's Mother's Day I'm not scheduling a meal... not that I expect to be taken out to dinner or anything... wink, wink ;)

i'll be back!

i'm not abandoning my newfound blogginess.....
just heading out for a much needed vacation.
back soon!

Finding Me again

CityMama and Carmen have great posts today about staying true to yourself, even while taking on the role of Mommy. I am just beginning to realize that what I thought was post-partum depression was probably, at least partially, me mourning the loss of me.
I am an attached parent. I love my children and relish spending time with them. Most of my life is about my kids. What they need, what they want, what I need and want them to have and do... and I love that.
Although I have relaxed some of my ideals now that the girls are growing older. My youngest is still nursing and probably will for awhile longer. That alone takes giving up a small part of myself.
But as my girls are getting older, I see them coming into who they are, catching a glimpse of who they will be. And it makes me think, what am I teaching them by only being a "mom"?
So I'm realizing my girls need to see me as me. Not just a mama but also a wife, a daughter, a sister, an aunt, a niece, a grandaughter, a friend, and a woman... one who has ideas and goals, failures and successes, a voice and a plan, a woman with with strengths and weaknesses. A woman who needs to be herself so she can raise girls who know who they are...........

Works for Me Wednesday

I've decided not to do a Wordless Wednesday this week and instead jump in with Works for Me Wednesday post from over at Rocks in My Dryer. I've learned a lot of great tips reading others so maybe I will find something to contribute?



I live in eastern North Carolina where we are dealing with a pretty severe drought. The rainy spring season has hit and many folks are upping their water usage since the lake levels are full again, but we go thru this every few years so I really believe the prudent thing to do is conserve water all the time. We can learn to decrease our dependence on other natural resources like oil and coal, but water is absolutely essential to life. Doesn't it make sense to make lifestyle changes to conserve it for the future?

Here are some of the water conservation tips that work for us:

1. Install low flow shower head like these
2. If it's yellow... let it mellow. ;)
3. Consider water conserving appliances. We love our front loading clothes washer and have been pricing energy star and water conserving dishwashers.
4. Use rain barrels for garden and container watering.
5. Turn off the water when you are brushing your teeth or shaving.
6. Take short showers, turn off the water when you are soaping up - Navy style.
7. install water saving toliets or place plastic milk jugs filled with water in the tank to decrease the amount of water flushed
8. check every faucet for leaks
9. install faucet aerators on your kitchen and bathroom faucets
10. Start a compost pile! Stop putting kitchen scraps down the disposal and start creating compost!

These are just a few ideas that we have implemented in our house. Check out this site for many more ideas!!

Tackle it Tuesday

Tackle it Tuesday from www.5minutesformom.com

Today I am going to tackle the closet in my kitchen. It is supposed to be a coat closet but it is a deep closet under the steps and in order to access the bar to hang your coat up it has to be kept relatively empty. Yeah. OK. Right.
So, basically we keep coats in there that we almost never wear, and then the rest of the closet is a junk heap. I've tried to utilize the space by putting an antique dresser in there to hold light bulbs, recipes, candles, flashlights, etc. but it isn't easy to open the drawers so that kind of stuff gets piled on the top of the dresser. And then Easter came and went,and all the Easter stuff found it's way in there, too. I want to keep my new vacuum cleaner in this closet so my goal today is to clean out the closet to make room for parking the Dyson.

Before pics:




And after pics:

Menu Plan Monday week 1

I've been trying out a new blog but I'm not finding inspiration there either, so I decided to just come back to this one. I know I laid out my plan for more posting WAY BACK in November and here it is April but here goes anyways.... ;)
Better late than never.... that's my motto!

My first Menu Plan Monday post! Thanks to Laura over at I'm an Organizing Junkie for inspiration! I'm a regular reader over there but this is my first time linking!



Monday: pork chops, pasta alfredo, green beans

Tuesday: just the girls tonight so Leftovers it is :)

Wednesday: (grocery day) parmesan chicken over rice

Thursday: turkey and veggie lasagna rollups

Friday: homemade chicken noodle soup (we are heading to the beach next week so this will travel and be a meal for next week)

Saturday: ? I'm not completely sure of our vacation plans for next week. We may be leaving Saturday or Sunday, so I'm putting this one off for now.

Sunday: heading to the beach! various forms of seafood for the next few days!

NaBloMoPo HA!

Last year was such a success for me (insert sarcasm here) I decided to just forgo the whole thing this year. But I am going to start this blog back up!

To get the ball rolling I'm going to try themes a couple of days a week.
Here's what I have so far:

Monday: Menu Plan Monday

Tuesday: Tackle it Tuesday

Wednesday: Wordless Wednesday (picture post)

Thursday and Friday: open to suggestions

Saturdays and Sundays I probably won't be posting much. Some of you may remember that I work weekends at a Level 1 Trauma Center and blogging just isn't on my radar after working 12 hour shifts on 3-5 hours of sleep.

Kids Clothing Extravaganza

Today I took every stitch of clothing the girls own and threw them in a pile. Then I started sorting... and sorting...and sorting. Clothes that are the wrong season, clothes that are the wrong size, clothes to consign, clothes to donate, clothes to save for Cami...and so on and so forth.
the end result is that now anyone can go into either girl's dresser and pull out something weather appropriate and it will probably fit.
Amazing.
Of course, the drawer organization will only last until they decide to drag all of their clothes out of the drawers and lay on them to read books or something, and the multitudes of mismatched, orphaned socks have jsut been thrown in a box to be dealt with another day, but at least I accomplished SOMETHING!

water, water....anywhere?

i'm tired of living with the idea of water restrictions thrown at me from the local media 24/7. i understand the importance of the message but i wish it was a way of life for more people instead of a crisis.
i try not to waste water and i try to teach my girls the same thing. when we pull into the grocery store's parking lot, what do i tell her about the restaurant that is letting it's sprinkler system create a very cool river down the middle of the asphalt baking in the august sun?

Hello, Dyson?

We are getting ready for a visit from CC and Chris this weekend! Teaghan is such a huge helper. She loves to "clean" the kitchena nd has been bugging me to do it all morning. I need to find her a child size broom so she can really be effective. I think that's what I'm going to suggest the g-gparents get her for her birthday or Christmas. Now...if only I could find a child size Dyson, my plan of lounging on the couch eating bon-bons while my children do all the housework could become a reality!!