I spent a little time this morning in the formal living room opening some boxes and unpacking.  It felt good to turn the the place at least a little bit into “me”.

There’s nothing like lighting a candle (for me anyway) that makes me feel like I’m at home.  Thank you Amara for the house warming gift.  I may be living in boxes, stressed out of my mind, but every day I light this…

and it makes me smile.  And if I can smile once…then I know I can get thru this.

Doing just a little, what I can, to make it seem like home around here.

In doing some packing I found some artwork of Ava’s that I found amusing…

You can find Skits these days laying with Ava just like this…

And lastly…it must be because I read Katie’s blog that I’m inspired by taking pictures of food.  This was a salad I made for myself the other day at lunch time.  I’ve been craving and loving salads ever since I got sick.  My stomach has been so sensitive ever since being ill.  Salads seem to be one of the only things that I really love.  I guess that’s a good thing.

I’m hungry for it all over again looking at this photo! ;D

…cake!  I had forgotten that you can “bake” a cake in 10 minutes in your microwave in a Pampered Chef Rice Cooker.  I used to sell Pampered Chef and I have all the gadgets that there are.  I don’t know why I stopped making cakes in the microwave.  Anyway…last night being our anniversary…and me not planning much cause there is so much going on ’round here…I thought…I should make a cake!  But I have no energy or time for THAT!  Wait a second!  So I looked to see if I had a cake mix and I did.  The rice cooker was clean.  Check.  And away I went!

THIS is how easy it is…take a cake mix and make it according to directions (I’ve only ever done vanilla or chocolate in the rice cooker so maker beware!).  Pour into the rice cooker (no need to grease it or ANYTHING!)  Close it up and put it in the microwave on high for 10 minutes.  Take it out.  Let it sit for a minute or two.  Open it up and invert it on to a plate.  Done!  Here’s the final product…with icing…1/2 eaten! ;D

Oh yeah…It is YUMMY!!!!!!

17 years ago today I married the coolest man! ;D

Penscrappers Feb 2010 Kit Anna Aspnes, Album Magic Kit Anna Aspnes

I’ve always loved those pictures, shows or websites of the “before and after”.  Biggest Loser, Oprah’s makeover shows, stuff like that.  Well I have one of my own…

Here’s the stove in our new kitchen before…

And after…

I love good deals.  I always shop the clearance racks of Target.  I shopped at a different Target…one closer to the new house.  The clearance wasn’t completely picked over like the one here in Parker.  I got some great baskets for the girls’ new bathroom.  These were on clearance for $2.48 marked down from $9.99!

There were a pair of woodpeckers in the new yard yesterday.  I love that we have wildlife in the new place.  We’ve seen squirrels there too.  The kids were pleased about that.

Here’s another view of the backyard.  I can’t wait for the leaves to come out!

And then one last picture.  Of Skits.  He is getting so big.  He is starting to look more like a dog and less like a puppy.

…you to notice in the photo the other day…

…was this is not our driveway.  Well it is. It is just a NEW driveway.  We are in the process of moving to a new house.  Not too far away.  The girls are staying in the same school.  Some things will change.  Some will stay the same.

New paint.  New plants for the girls’ rooms…oh and those lovely Dunkin’ Donuts.

Lunch for the first time in the new house as we are cleaning and painting.  Disgusting dark cabinets that NEED painting!  And those curtains are going too…peh!!!!

Painting Laney’s room a lovely pink…over a ghastly yellow.

Can I just say I hate moving.  I am tired anyway.  I’m really, really tired from trying to maintain two houses.  I’ll be glad when this is OVER!

…other things…Wednesday brought the return of Corey and I having lunch together.  He has been having to go into the office and I have been sick so it was nice to return to our weekly tradition.  We decided to eat at Qdoba.  They have a new menu item called Craft 2.  It lets you mix and match some of their favorite menu items.  I chose a naked taco and a grilled quesadilla.  Best food I’ve had in awhile.  I say that because my tummy has been so upset for so long!  It is so hard for me to find things that don’t make me feel ill.  This photo was taken with my phone.

We were at Burger King yesterday and the girls noticed they had crowns with Twilight New Moon pictures on them.  How exciting!  He he!  Even tho I would NEVER let them watch it in a million years until they are like at least 13 they still know what it is…cause their Mom is obsessed with it! ;D  So here they are in their crowns.  They said Bella was “watching” you! ;D  This photo was also taken with my phone.  Not too shabby for a camera phone. Oh.  Notice Laney has her front two teeth missing.  That is a recent event as well.

Does anyone know what THIS means….

That is CORRECT we found Dunkin’ Donuts in Colorado!  A little bit of a drive as they are all in Colorado Springs.  But better than none at all.  We had an errand to run in the Springs on Saturday so we made a pilgrimage to Dunkin’ Donuts as well.  Grabbed a dozen donuts and some coffee beans.  We were all happy campers.  It’s an east coast thing. ;D

We got snow.  Again.  Not much.  Just enough to annoy me.  We didn’t get our traditional 70° weather in January.  Not even our usual one day.  It has been cold.  It feels too much like Maine for my taste.  Peh.  Here are the girls shoveling the driveway.  Can anyone tell me what is different about this photo???

I’ve had several requests for recent photos of Skits.  I’ve been a little bad about keeping up with daily photos in general.  So much going on.  So here I am honoring that request…

He is just the funniest dog ever.  I mean he is full of it.  And the only thing that saves him is that he is so darn cute!  Seriously he really is a good dog…or I think he will eventually turn into one.  I took him to the vet last week for his shots and he was the best behaved little doggie ever!  Everyone loved him there.  The vet said he looked great.  He said his personality was fantastic.  He has great days with potty training…then the next day it’s like wth???  I don’t get it.  See…I told you…you forget…or else you wouldn’t get one again!  He is hilarious in everything he does and he makes us laugh.  He wants to be everywhere Baxter is and wants everything Baxter has and we can’t decide if he wants to be dominant or just likes Baxter a lot and just wants to be with him and emulate him.  Baxter is extremely tolerant…which is a good thing…he’s such a great dog!

I’ve got two new products in the store today.

You can find both in my store here.

That’s what we have been doing.  If you don’t want it chewed that it must be removed.  Or the door must be closed.  So the main two floors of the house are looking pretty empty…and probably pretty boring to Skits.  And every other door to every other room in the house is shut.  So he can’t get into anything.  Cause if he can, he will. You name it.  He’ll get into it.  He’s not discriminating.  Here he is after a morning of mischievousness.

I needed more rest today.  Skits was the one who got the rest tho.  I’m thinking he’s feeling a little more secure in his surroundings.  We had some success in potty training today.  The girls gave me a nice long break when they got home…they pretty much played with him all night long.  They took him outside when he needed to go.  It was nice.  All three of them were very cute together.  It is a lot easier having a puppy when you have kids who are old enough to help out with things.  When we got Baxter they were practically babies themselves! ;D  Oh, and I put on his collar today.  He HATES it!  I put him in his kennel when I went to get the girls at school.  He must have survived.  He was just fine when we got home.  Yay!  He also discovered he likes his bones…a lot…today.  So we started working on taking away his bone and giving it back to him.  He’s chewing on my hair right now.  Weirdo. ;D