handsful

Last night, we had the pleasure of attending a Chinese New Year event at nearby Davidson College.  The Asian student community within the college puts this on every year, and it’s so fun.  Chinese food, dancers, singers, dragon and lion dances, face painting, and….a fantastic fireworks display right on the quad.

I only had my phone, so there are only a few pics.  I’ve got to get back in the camera habit.

We were THIS close to the fireworks…ash was falling in our hair and in our eyes.  lol…

Chinese New Year is officially on the 31st.  I see us finding a new Chinese restaurant to celebrate again :)

Untouched photo Lainey took with my phone, of our backyard sky.  Cotton candy, anyone?

Back to the title of this post.  Know what I want??

Snow.  Just enough to cover the ground nicely, and let the kids play for a day or two.  I’m not greedy, people.

A few times recently, there’s been snow in the forecast.  And then…poof…it’s gone.  Nothing.

That’s just plain mean.

I also realize that those of you buried under mounds of snow aren’t feeling so sympathetic towards me.  I get it.  I’m not sure I’d want to be in your snow shoes either.  Ahem.

I’m still holding out hope that we’ll get a decent snowstorm this year.  My family isn’t feeling it so much.

But, I can be patient.

I’m in the middle of a 21 day break from Facebook.  It’s funny…I miss it, but at the same time don’t.  I’ve replaced it with more devotional, bible,  and intentional reading.  Right now, I’m reading The Reason for God.  It’s not  an easy read for me.  I get confused more times than I care to admit, but it’s been good to dig deep.

I do realize how often I must have posted on FB.  Something happens and I automatically think “hey, I should put that on FB…oh, wait”.

Like when we realized this week that Dylan has his first loose tooth.

When I felt like whining about the week-long winter cold I had last week.

Last night, when we had who-knows-how-many teens over for a double-feature movie night.

And, when the boys and their friend Trevor slept out in the field in a tent…and swore they heard coyotes circling their tent.

I think, even when I’m back on FB, I’ll make some changes.  Like only cruise the site during non-school hours.  I like that idea.  FB can easily be put ahead of more inportant things, and I want to guard against that.

My thoughts on a lazy Saturday morning.  Happy weekend, ya’ll.

That project I mentioned in my last post?

Guess what…we did it!  And, in two days no less.

This doesn’t happen around here.  Starting and finishing a project in only TWO days?  Unheard of.

But, we had a deadline.  Randy left today to go to NY for a few days for work.  If we’d not finished before he left, we would have been without a guest bathroom.  Not the end of the world, but it did give us the motivation to just.get.it.done.

Here’s a before…

This was actually taken before we bought the house, when Randy was taking pics of each of the rooms to show me.

It’s hard to tell, but the wall color (as are ALL of the walls in this house, other than the ones we’ve already painted) is a decent khaki color.  But, the paint is FLAT.  No sheen whatsoever, and it’s impossible to clean.  To say I’d like to re-paint the whole house is a total understatement.  But, most of our walls are angled, and the open doorways are curved…so if you start painting one wall, it melds into the next one.  There’s no “well, we’ll JUST paint the family room”.

Painting the whole house is gonna have to wait.

But, there are a few rooms that aren’t affected by the curves and angles…like the guest bath.

This was taken yesterday, after Randy took the back off of the toilet.  That was a job.  But, it made painting the wall behind it much easier.

We already had the paint (toasted honey), and decided to replace the light fixture and mirror while we were at it.  They were never my style, a little too traditional.  If I had the moolah, I’d make major changes to turn this house into a homey, farmhouse.  For now, I’m doing it in small batches.

After :)

We found the mirror at a local furniture consignment store.  Love the simplicity, and how it’s squared at the bottom and curved at the top.  The light fixture finally matches the existing brushed nickel fixtures.  I like the shape of the globes, kinda old fashioned.

I did some “shopping” around my house, and accessorized to match the new color scheme.  I love it.  Might replace the rug at some point.

I’m wondering which room is next.  Bedroom maybe?  Hopefully, my husband didn’t read that.

I’ve got the “hey, it’s after Christmas, time to re-organize everything in the house” bug.

Which is also beginning to turn into “hey, while we’re at it, let’s change up a few things around here” bug, as well.

It’s that second one that makes my husband hide downstairs in his office.

Although I’ve got all kinds of things swimming around in my head, I’m starting small.  Even though it technically took me all day to complete.

Why all day?  I had to fit it in between…doing school with the littles, eating lunch, going to the warehouse store, dropping off the dog at the vet, and picking up the dog from the vet.

I’ve been eyeing my pantry lately.  I truly love my pantry…it’s the largest one I’ve ever had, and I’m grateful.

But, even though I had it all organized not too long ago, it’s since gone a bit awry.

And, since I do absolutely love organizing things, I decided to tackle it today.

So, do you see any organization here?  These are the shelves straight into the pantry.

Shorter shelves to the left.

I took EVERYTHING out.  Shelf by shelf.  Then decided what categories I wanted.  And, where they’d fit best.  Breakfast items, cereals (which had to go on a taller shelf), snacks (chips, nuts, granola bars, candy, crackers, etc.), veggies (cans), sauces, pasta, rice, ingredients, bread, drink mixes, etc.

After I tossed a fair amount of trash (why don’t kids EVER throw away wrappers?), old food (how long had that candied pineapple been in there?), and re-located a few things…here’s the end result.

Bottom shelf:  breakfast items, bread, potatoes/onions, and drink mixes – next two shelves are snacks of all descriptions – then, ingredients in bins – then, cake mixes and cereal boxes (which, we’re very low on which is why that area  is bare).  On the floor are vinegar, distilled water, large jars and a stool.

Hey, what can I say, I’m short.

Bottom shelf: pastas – next, veggies and soups – then, sauces – and, last where I put the “extras” (if I’ve bought items in bulk, I put the extas there).

On the very top shelves are extra containers, my canning pot and seals/rings, bag sealer machine, and 4 large flashlights.

I’m pretty happy about how it all looks, and I love that I now KNOW what’s in my pantry.

Everything’s in it’s place.

Until the kids put away the groceries next time.

Next up?  I’m not gonna say, on the grounds that – if I do – I’ll be held accountable to get it done.

But, I’ll let ya know.

Christmas 2013 was a lot of things.  It flew by so quickly, really.  I realize now things that we “missed”…the Christmas earrings I forgot to wear, the movies we never watched, books we never read, treats we never made.

But, I refuse to live in regret for what wasn’t done.  Instead, I’ll remember this Christmas for what it was…a wonderful time with family, enjoying each other and remembering the reason for it all.

I’m playing around with how I post pics to the blog, trying to find a more efficient (quicker) way to do it.  So, the pics below tell the story of our Christmas starting at Christmas eve, when my parents spent the day with us.  Later that night, we were all dressed up for our Christmas eve service at church.  Of course, Christmas morning, our standard breakfast of canned cinnamon rolls (they won’t let me try homemade!), and the rest of our day spent together.

Enjoy our pictures :)