Kitchen redo!

We bought our house brand new 5  years ago. We did not build the house, it was finished when we purchased it. Needless to say, if I had built the house, I would have made A LOT of changes. I've been doing a lot of research  about some DIY home projects and I think I am ready to start.

Number one on my list: the kitchen! We have your standard oak cabinets...GAG! I despise everything about them, oak is just not my thing. After a lot of back and forth and what colors to do, I think I finally have it figured out. I am going to paint the cabinets white and we are going to refinish the countertops in a charcoal color. Repaint the downstairs, including the kitchen, and add a backsplash. Eventually the goal is to  get new appliances. We currently have those disgusting "off white" ones and I loathe those as well.

Here is my inspiration:

Source: hometalk.com via Courtney on Pinterest

Source: familyhandyman.com via Courtney on Pinterest

I've gotten almost all the supplies except the primer and the paint! I can't wait to get started!!!!

Here we go

It's been a while since the last time that I blogged. I needed it. December was a month full of a lot of emotion for me. I needed to take some "me" time and just let things be.

But here we are, a new year. This is going to be MY year. I have a lot of plans for ME. On the list of things to do this year include:
--losing more weight and becoming healthy and fit again
--going back to school to get my MSW
--take a vacation

I'm sure I'll have many more plans, but these three things are at the top of my list. Here's why:

1.) Losing more weight and becoming fit: I have lost a total of 13 pounds so far. I am a jean size smaller and my friends/co-workers are starting to notice. I have gotten a lot of "wow, over the last month, you have just glowed!" comments. I needed this more than anyone could possibly imagine! This month has been very emotional for me. I haven't shared it with anyone. I've kept my smile but on the inside I felt like I had died a thousands deaths. From this stemmed my decision to focus on me. I needed to fix me. And so I am. I work out at least 3-6 times per week doing Zumba at home or taking classes. I am watching what I eat. I have made the decision to move towards a more vegan diet. I can eat vegan without a problem and I already have many of the foods in my pantry. I want to do it for the health reason and  benefits. I have dropped my coffee intake to maybe once per week, which is a huge deal if you know me. I've replaced it with green tea, any other variety of tea, and water. I drink at least 3 cups of green tea per day now. I feel much better than I did, but I know there is still work to  be done. But I'm on the road.

2.) My desire to go back to school has pretty much been a mute point up until now. I knew I wasn't ready both mentally and just the ultimate time commitment for school, three  children, and working full time. But now I am ready. I have the desire to learn more about my field of work and to expand my job opportunities for the future. A big reason I have put it off is because there were no local schools that offered a MSW and I would have to drive an hour each way to attend class. Plus with my husband's work schedule, it would be impossible to attend class each week. However, now IUPUI offers a MSW online. This was my saving grace! I know several people that have completed their MSW through IUPUI and loved the program. I have already started the admissions process, my writing samples, and have lined up my references. I just need to complete it and get accepted. I hope to  start in March of this year.

3.) I haven't take a vacation in 4 years. Yeah, 4 years! I haven't take more than 3 days off in a row from work in 4 years, except for my maternity leave with Avonlea where I took 4 weeks off. Yes, I had a 4 week maternity leave. It was my decision. The thing with my job is that I only get paid for the hours I work. I make my own schedule, so if I don't work, I don't get paid. That means no paid vacation, no paid time off, no paid sick days, no paid maternity leave. Plus, I work my own  cases. If I don't do the visits or the case management, I feel like I have no idea what is going on with my cases. And that drives.me.crazy! I need to  be in control. :) But this year I have vowed to  save up some money and take a vacation! I need a vacation! Badly.

So these are my three major goals for the year. I know that I can accomplish them, I just need to do it and plan it.

What are your goals for the year?

Christmas 2012

I am 95% finished with my Christmas shopping. We aren't doing adult gifts this year so it's been easy to knock it out for all the kids.

Here is what we have so far:

Avonlea:

Bennett and Peytonn:

The boys will each get a bigger item, but we haven't fully decided what those will  be yet. I keep asking them, but it changes daily. I have a few ideas in mind.

My Christmas present was 2 new pairs of jeans and a pair of boots:

Source: zulily.com via Courtney on Pinterest

I absolutely love Maurices jeans! The top pic is the Taylor jeans which I adore! I have 3 pairs. The bottom ones are new to me, they are the Maurices Denim Flex line and I adore them even more than the Taylor jeans. I got them in my original size since they are a straight legged jean and they fit perfect! I probably could have gone with the size down, but I despise tight jeans! The good news is the jeans are affordable: $29 for the Taylor and like $38 I believe for the Denim Flex. I bought them at buy one get one half off!

Hello and Goodbye

Hello to a smaller jean size! Goodbye 10 pounds worth of baby weight! Thank you Zumba and myFitnessPal! You're rocking my socks right now!

Thanksgiving menu

This is our 4th year hosting Thanksgiving. Its a lot of work, but I prefer it to traveling with 3 children to  several different places. I started hosting right after Bennett was born. So yes, I decided to host Thanksgiving when I had a 2 weeks old preemie baby. Again, it was easier than taking him to a million places. But I've really learned to enjoy it. I love cooking, so why not host a huge meal?!

Usually, I just roast my turkey the same way that I roast my chickens. But this year, I am trying something new. I decided to take the plunge and attempt to brine our turkey. I used the recipe from Pioneer Woman:

Source: thepioneerwoman.com via Courtney on Pinterest

Since I knew I had to work all day today and the bird needs to brine for at least 18-24 hours, I made the brine last night and put the turkey in it.  I used the Reynolds bags to place the turkey and  brine in. Then I put a layer of ice in the bottom of our cooler, put the bag of turkey/brine in, and another bag with ice on top. I placed the entire cooler outside where it was cold. I checked it this morning and the ice had melted a little, but it was still cold and plenty of ice left. We used a free range, organic turkey this year as well that I got from our co-op. It's ginormous! I think its about 18lbs, but I'm also feeding 8 adults and 5 children. Plus I want leftovers. I think it should be fine.

Our other menu items include:

*rosemary and butter yeast rolls* I make these every year and they are a huge hit!

Source: thepioneerwoman.com via Courtney on Pinterest

*cornbread stuffing* Also an every year thing and a huge hit!

Source: food.com via Courtney on Pinterest

*cornflake potatoes* This is my grandfather's recipe and I have loved it since I was a child

*deviled eggs*

*Greenbean casserole*

*7-layer salad*

Source: thepioneerwoman.com via Laura on Pinterest

*Mashed potatoes and turnips* trust me, you'll never know the turnips are in there!

Source: ahealthypassion.com via Courtney on Pinterest

*Homemade Pecan pie and pumpkin pie with real whipped cream*

*My mom's homemade sweet potatoes*

*Homemade gravy*

I think that about sums it up. I make everything from  scratch for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I think the holidays warrant really good, homemade food! I don't mess around with the premade stuff.

I can't wait to gobble it all down!! But, I do plan to run that morning so I don't feel guilty about eating all that good food. :)

A million and one things

I'm sorry, an update is long overdue it appears. Things have been crazy busy around here lately with work and kids.

Bennett turned 4 at the beginning of this month. He had a wonderful party filled with family and friends. The star gift was a Nerf gun bought by my husband. (insert eye roll) Not my top choice and its spent more time put up due to pointing it at people and shooting it at people.


But he had a good party and that's what matters. He also got to celebrate his birthday at school and he loved getting to wear the birthday crown all day. He had his 4 year checkup and on his actual birthday. He weighed in around 33-34lbs. He's in the 25th-35th% for both height and weight. Poor kid is short like his mama. I talked with his  doc about his 'behavior' and she sent a referral for an OT evaluation. (Occupational therapy) We go today for that appointment. Other than that, he is healthy as a clam.

Things have been stressful  around here lately. Work this past week was insane, I worked 48 hours this week alone. I have a difficult court hearing coming up the week after Thanksgiving and that is just looming over my head. I have been so stressed and busy that I lost 5lbs this week. Yes, 5lbs in one week. Its not healthy, but having those 5lbs gone feels really good, I'm not going to lie. It was the jump start I've been needing. I've been religiously tracking on MyFitnessPal on my phone, which has really helped.

Speaking of phones, I have finally joined the iPhone world! Holla! Its much easier for everything to sink now with work. I live on my phone, its my life. I'm on 24/7 with work and this allows me to get fast responses. I am really loving the iPhone so far.

Does anyone have recommendations on cases? I've seen the Otterbox and I know it will protect it, but I need it to be slim enough to fit in my pocket. I have to take my phone everywhere so I  can call 911 in a drop of a hat. So it needs to be slim and sleek. Any suggestions?

Doc appointment update

Avonlea had her 15 month check up on Wednesday. Her stats were as follows:
Weight: 21.4lbs
Height: 30 inches

The issue: in 3 months she has only gained just over a pound. Although its not a huge concern at this point because she is still between 25th-50th % for weight. I knew she was thinning out and it was one of the things I wanted to ask the doctor about.


We already started giving her 1-2 Pediasure drinks per day and I wanted to know if that was enough or if she should be getting more. The doc said we were  doing the right thing. She also said that Avonlea should gain another pound within a month, and if she didn't then we could add another drink in per day, for a total of three. The doc asked about Avonlea's appetite and how she ate. One thing I am very thankful for is that none of my kids are picky eaters and they eat just about everything. Avonlea is no exception to that. I was more concerned about her not getting enough fat for her brain to develop since she was not eating that much dairy.

I've started to add some dairy back into her diet to see how she handles it. So far we have successfully added cottage cheese and regular cheese without a problem. The last 3 days I have given her about 4oz of whole milk per day to see how she does. So far, so good. I hope this will help her gain some weight. She has been stuff in 12-18 month clothes for about 4-6 months now.



She also is finally signing the word "more" back to me. I've been using it with her for month and all of a sudden she just started doing it!